Move over K.C. Irving and Paul Desmarais, there’s a new industrial giant on the Canadian stage and his name is Ken Filsinger.

Dan Pelton You don’t believe me? Just ask the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC).

Don’t be fooled by the fact Mr. Filsinger operates a sign-making concern out of a small shop in a Centennial Road commercial/ industrial mall.

MPAC says the business — Sign Needs — deploys a complex 17-step manufacturing process that gobbles up town services and infrastructure resources. Therefore, it should be nailed with an industrial property tax classification, instead of a commercial one, and dole out thousands more dollars a year to the local municipal coffers; even though the Town of Orangeville would prefer Sign Needs be in the less financially burdensome commercial classification.

This line of thinking is absurd and dangerous to small business. For the point of emphasis, allow me to bring up another “manufacturing process” that’s going on in Orangeville as you read this column.

It’s the industrial club sandwich and a pint of beer.

It begins with intense client-server negotiations, followed by the server and kitchen undergoing a strategy session to properly implement the client’s specifications. Then there’s the labour-intensive seven-step procurement and preparation of the necessary raw materials (bread, bacon, turkey, lettuce, tomato, fries and mayo on the side).

The logistics phase involves pairing the product with plate, utensils and napkin and transporting it to the client. Add to that the energy-absorbing extraction of sudsy liquid from a series of kegs and spigots and the provision of value-added services (salt, pepper, ketchup and vinegar).

The plate and utensils undergo a washing procedure in order to be redistributed to future clients.

As MPAC sees it, Joe’s Bar and Grill has just undergone a 14-step manufacturing process, and therefore must forfeit its commercial tax classification for an industrial one.

And, as any reasonable human being would determine, this logic is spiritually akin to the fecal offerings of a bull.

To justify its stance, MPAC — through both a legal submission to the Assessment Review Board (ARB) and a spokesperson’s statement to the press — pointed to an instance where the corporation slapped an industrial classification on a guy who makes pottery.

What kind of convoluted argument is that? For all intents and purposes, the corporation is philosophizing that two wrongs do, in fact, make a right.

It’s like the defence of a veteran hit man who’s before the court on a single homicide charge: “Yo, yer honour, why ya bustin’ my chops on this one? It’s not like I never done it before!”

In MPAC’s defence, it is a corporation and a corporation is defined as a separate entity and virtual person in its own right. The single-minded, dispassionate type of person you would hate to have living next door, but a person nonetheless.

Therefore, it must first, foremost and instinctively, defend its very existence. That was threatened by the recent ARB decision that Sign Needs was not the industrial concern the corporation deemed it to be. MPAC’s single purpose in life — wandering about the countryside and pigeon-holing people in accordance to its interpretation of the Assessment Act — was undermined, and the corporation felt compelled to appeal the verdict to divisional court in order to survive.

They couldn’t help but appeal. It was the Darwinist survival of the fittest, natural selection thing to do.

Also, in fairness, MPAC decisions are not always doomed to crush the little guy. There was the example of a local landowner who had his property assessment halved because of his land’s proximity to wind turbines. His taxes, subsequently, went down.

In the case of Sign Needs, however, the corporation-as-an-individual shtick may explain MPAC’s behaviour, but it sure doesn’t justify it. It’s time that we, regardless of our personal politics, stand up for this guy.

If you are a laissez faire capitalist intent on booting Big Brother out of your life as you strive for personal prosperity, you should fight for Ken Filsinger. If you are a social democrat who calls for a government role in preserving each individual’s health, happiness and dignity, you should fight for Ken Filsinger. If you’re an apolitical type who just hates to see bad things happen to good people, you should fight for Ken Filsinger.

Even if you are a rival sign maker who thinks he has dodged the bullet that struck Sign Needs. You might want to think again. You, too, could be in MPAC’s cross hairs.

Like municipal governments across the provinces, Orangeville Council is laden with responsibility but given precious little authority to carry it out effectively.

Still, instead of throwing up its hands and saying it can do little but offer moral support, Orangeville Council can pass a motion that says this assault on small business will not be tolerated. It can take its case to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, muster an army of like-minded municipalities and blow through the bureaucratic barricades at Queens Park.

Once this fight gets the provincial legislature’s attention, there’s a certain MPP named Sylvia Jones who’s chomping at the bit for a chance to tear a chunk out of MPAC in regards to this issue.

On the other hand, we can support MPAC on this matter and use the Filsinger case to declare that manufacturing, despite what the alarmists say, is thriving in Canada. Then we can shell out $35 or so for a club sandwich and beer — the amount Joe’s Bar and Grill has to charge in order to pay its manufacturing taxes.