We're number 3, we're number 3. Such was the chant not heard around Ottawa last week after the Conference Board of Canada updated its Metropolitan Outlook forecasts for 2001. According to the Conference Board, our economy is now predicted to grow by a solid 3.9% this year, off slightly from the stellar 5.1% clip that was predicted earlier this year.

What a difference a few months and 10,000 high tech layoffs can make. Understandably, the turmoil in the dot com world has caused this revision in our economic growth projection and has allowed Edmonton and Calgary to leap ahead of us - at 4.8% and 4.3% respectively - to be deemed the fastest growing urban economies in the country.

But don't fret too much, we're still number one in Ontario. And we can exact a small amount of revenge for the four games to zip drubbing the Sens took from the Maple Leafs by noting that Toronto ranks behind us in growth with a modest 2.7% rate for 2001.

Meanwhile, last week's Budget was a disappointment in terms of clarity of funding for Ottawa. While the province did commit $70 million for Ottawa (the largest figure for any city outside the GTA), it is not clear how to access this money or when it will be disbursed. And with 3.9% growth predicted for this region, the infrastructure challenges we face will only become more acute.

To compound the problem, Ottawa, like most other cities in Canada, is being forced to deliver more services to a diverse population through the combined effects of downloading, demographic changes and citizen demand. Clearly, the property tax base is inadequate to meet all of these needs. And by the time you read this column, the city's Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee will have put in motion the establishment of a 12-person "Task Force on Property Assessment and Property Tax Issues."

Comprised of four councillors and eight citizens, this group will have until November to report back to Council on issues of property assessment, the role of property taxes and consequent strain on ratepayers given that these taxes now fund "hard" infrastructure as well as soft "social services." And if the task force is really ambitious, it will also look at how other countries (read: the UK and property bands; California and actual price acquisition; or Israel and its unit assessment models) levy property taxes.

Property tax issues have the potential to mobilize taxpayers very quickly. We saw it in Toronto a few years back when forty and fifty year old assessment roles were finally modernized. And right now we're seeing it in Saskatchewan where some serious urban and rural cleavages are being revealed in property tax protest rallies.

This is not to belittle the plight of some 83,000-property owners here in Ottawa facing hikes due to reassessment or the 38,000 of this group facing 5% spikes or more. However, the "poorly designed bureaucrats' dream" province wide market value (or current or actual value if you prefer, they're all basically the same) assessment system has, for the most part, spared Ottawa some of the wild fluctuations recently seen in other communities.

To be sure, the emotive and politically explosive component of property taxes has not been lost on the provincial government either. Buried on page 18 of the Minister Flaherty's budget speech from last week is this little gem: "We propose to rename the Ontario Property Assessment Corporation to more accurately reflect its nature, as the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation; we also propose to revise its governance structure; and to ensure long-term stability we propose to eliminate the potential for municipalities to opt out of the corporation."

And the Ottawa task force, to be chaired by councillor Alex Cullen, should also take a look at a study entitled Review of the Property Assessment Process submitted by Tory backbench MPP and Chair of the provincial standing committee on Finance and Economic Affairs, Marcel Beaubien. It was submitted on April 2nd of the this year and for the most part, offers a reasoned and somewhat scathing look at the property assessment process in Ontario.

Finally, if Mr. Cullen's task force is bold enough, it should also address the issue of property taxes from a conceptual point of view. Property taxes stem from ancient and feudal times and in the context of 21st century Canada, bear little relation to the issue of one's ability to pay or potential and real consumption of public services. So a discussion of alternatives is warranted.

But we must caution good ol' Alex as well; the solution is not to shift the burden from residential ratepayers to businesses. Indeed, Ontario businesses in general, and Ottawa businesses in particular, pay some of the highest commercial and industrial assessments already. This file is complex and daunting but one that must be tackled, yours truly will watch the task forces work with great interest indeed.