Voyageur 164
Canada Looks for a Power Cord to Europe, and Property Tax Appeals Are Worth a Look.
News for residents of the “11th province”: Canadians abroad.
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Canada Looks for a Power Cord to Europe
A $30 billion plan to run an undersea power cable between Canada and Europe has four routes on the drawing board.
Canada's National Observer says that NATO-L, short for North Atlantic Transmission One Link, would run about 4,000 kilometres and move clean electricity both ways across the Atlantic. One favoured route would link Sept-Iles, Quebec with Princess Elisabeth Island in Belgium. The backers say the project has also lined up a still-unnamed major power technology company to build substations.
The reasons for the enthusiasm are part physics, part geopolitics. Europe and Canada have their own peak power demands at different times of the year, and wind doesn’t blow on both sides of the ocean at once. A two-way line would let Canada sell power when Europe needs it and pull power back when the Canadian grid needs a helping hand.
Read more: Canada's National Observer
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A photo from the old country:
Property Tax Appeals Are Worth a Look
Canadians abroad who continue to own a place back home may have a boring little money errand waiting for them.
MoneySense and The Canadian Press say homeowners can appeal property assessments when the bill is based on bad facts or unfair comparisons. Wrong lot size, old garage still on file, new homes used as comparables for an older one - that sort of thing. In B.C. and Alberta, properties are reassessed every year. In Ontario, regular reassessments have been on hold since the pandemic, but permits/ permitting can still trigger updates.
The useful piece of information may be that if you want to file an appeal, you’ll need to show up with evidence. Complaining about the bill (unfortunately) does not count. Owners are expected to show factual errors, comparable properties, a market value problem, or something else along those lines.
If you are managing a Canadian house from another time zone, your annual assessment notice should be less like junk mail and more like a receipt that’s worth looking at carefully.
Read more: MoneySense / BNN Bloomberg