City of Ottawa officials are anticipating a public backlash when new
property tax assessments are mailed out later this year. Increases in
property values, which had previously been frozen for the past three
years, has promped the city to begin an advertising campaign to alert
residents to the fact that the province controls the assessment system
and the city has little control. Ottawa is calling on the province to
overhaul the municipal tax system. This article in the Ottawa Citizen also points out that many U.S. states and almost all European countries have moved away from the property tax system.