Rhino’s Ramblings - The Hotel Tax Loss
By Robert Thomas Opinion/Commentary
On November 24, 2025 representatives of the majority of hotels stood before Council with one purpose - stopping a base tax or a levy from being assessed against their properties.
With the City strapped for cash - like so many other municipalities - there was a need to find new funding for tourism related projects. The hotels’ piggy banks became a target.
A levy which Administration wanted to apply to hotels and then fund the operations of Tourism Moose Jaw and the Downtown Moose Jaw Association.
Administration was so confident in its passing that they had advised the two groups not to apply for third party funding as the new tax levy was available to them.
“We’re so screwed,” a member of the downtown group said in the hallway outside of the council chamber adding the fact the City had told them not to apply.
But when did this levy policy start? Who was behind it? What was it to fund?
In documents obtained through a Freedom of Information request (FOI) this column will dig into the inner workings at City Hall and hopefully provide some of the answers.
The first mention of the proposed hotel levy in the FOI was an April 4, 2025 email from Craig Hemingway director of strategic growth to then finance director Brian Acker requesting a list of hotels in Moose Jaw.
The purpose was to build a model of what a one percent levy would look like.
April 4, 2025 email from Draig Hemingway director of strategic growth
A more intensive read of the email shows it’s obvious this proposal outdated the email.
Additionally it can be assumed from the writing Acker was aware of the project.
I say aware because apparently Hemmingway’s overall plan for tourism had not been totally spelled out to at least one superior.
In a May 6, 2025 email then city manager requests Hemingway to spell out his overall tourism plan that they had discussed the day prior.
May 6, 2025 email from then city manager Maryse Carmichael
In his highly redacted response Hemingway tells Carmichael what plans he envisions for the funds collected by the hotel levy.
Amongst the uses for the proposed levy was a proposal to create “potentially, capital improvement fund for City sport/rec facilities.” It’s likely a point the hoteliers would not appreciate funding considering they were decrying paying for the pigeon infestation cleanup at the Tourism Moose Jaw building.
The fund was seen as a means to help pay for events, destination marketing and potentially so much more yet to be defined.
May 6, 2025 email response from Craig Hemingway to Maryse Carmichael
Much of the details are redacted due to privacy regulations but it’s safe to say that there is more than a general focus from what wasn’t redacted.
A big portion of the emails involve talk about what Prince Albert was doing to collect funds from their hotels. The hotels in Moose Jaw became levy or base tax targets and Prince Albert provided the model.
During discussions at the November 10, 2025 Executive Committee meeting what Prince Albert had done to bring in their destination marketing levy was a key component of Admimistration’s argument to adopt one in Moose Jaw.
Looking at the FOI documents they are littered with references to and discussions between the administrations in Moose Jaw and Prince Albert.
In a September 17, 2025 email exchange between Hemingway and Jaime Ansell director of financial services the Prince Albert angle comes up when Ansell informs Hemingway that his tax approach is not allowed.
September 17, 2025 email exchange between Craig Hemingway director of strategic growth and Jaime Ansell director of financial services
Hemingway would respond to Ansell that Moose Jaw’s approach did not break the rules.
He also added it would be voluntary for hotels to apply a Destination Marketing Fee (DMF) on room stays in order to make up for the levy.
During discussions at Executive Committee’s November 10, 2025 meeting it was implied on more than one occasion that the DMF would be used to recover the levy. Virtually eliminating any thoughts of it being voluntary.
Hemingway would mention the PA approach as the model for Moose Jaw.
Full details are once again heavily redacted.
Email from director of strategic growth Craig Hemingway director of strategic growth and Jaime Ansell director of financial services
But was the policy always crystal clear?
According to the FOI documents they weren’t.
In an October 5, 2025 email from Hemingway to city solicitor Andrew Svenson the director of strategic growth had reservations about his understanding of the process.
“Perhaps I've been making a wrong assumption about process,” Hemingway wrote a redacted email.
How deep the misunderstanding ran is up for conjecture but there is at least one other email that shows the two departments weren’t always connecting.
In yet another highly redacted email on October 23, 2025 Svenson mentions this confusion before his legal advice is redacted.
“I am still unclear of the desired outcome so it is difficult for me to provide any opinion on what you are proposing,” Svenson wrote.
The further lengthy reply is redacted as allowed under legislation as legal advice.
October 23, 2025 email from city solicitor Andrew Svenson to director of strategic growth Craig Hemingway showing the large redacted portion
The city solicitor was not the only party looking for clarification of what the new policy meant.
The group Visit Moose Jaw also sought clarification of the City’s plans.
In a September 23, 2025 letter from the group Crystal Froese wrote about the group’s concerns.
Concerns that included having a look at the proposed byelaw how the structure of the board would be made up and what happened with the present contracts for Tourism Moose Jaw and the Downtown Association?
September 23, 2025 letter to the City from Visit Moose Jaw
Despite at least two meetings with the City the hoteliers would not accede to what Administration wanted and at the November 24, 2025 meeting managed to convince Council to vote against Administration’s initiative.
In their minds the hoteliers had won.