This is the first Ontario case where all parties agree that the person ordered to clean up the spill was in every respects an innocent victim. The Order is contentious because the MOE used its regulatory power to download the cost of dealing with the spill onto the municipality, instead of paying for it themselves, out of their much deeper pockets. It is the province, not the municipality, that regulates home fuel tanks, and those who deliver to them; it was therefore the province, and not the municipality, that was in the best position to prevent the spill. The actual cleanup work was done by a contractor; the municipality’s role was to be stuck with the bill.
Both the province and the municipality have the power to try to collect the cost from the original polluter, the homeowner whose oil tank caused the spill. The municipality can do so by adding the cost to the municipal tax roll; the province can do so by issuing an order to the homeowner to pay the costs, and registering the order against the home. Thus, what the province downloaded to the innocent municipality in this case was:
- The administrative effort associated with the cleanup;
- the immediate cash flow strain;
- the cost and political heat associated with trying to collect the money by throwing a local resident out of his home; and
- the risk of any shortfall.
In my view, nothing makes the property tax base a better source of funding for these risks than the income tax and other sources of provincial funds.