Column had inaccuracies

Re: Why public trusts belong to the public, Diane Francis, May 1

Diane Francis’ column about the Mount Pleasant Group ( MPG) paints an inaccurate picture of our organization.

MPG was founded nearly 200 years ago to be Toronto’s first non-sectarian cemetery and we have grown with the city. We appreciate that it can be difficult to understand an organization with two centuries of history. Here are some of the inaccuracies from Ms. Francis’ column that we’d like to correct.

Perhaps the most important, but inaccurate criticism Ms. Francis levels at MPG throughout her column is that we are unsupervised and unaccountable. Nothing could be further from the truth. MPG was incorporated as a non- share capital not- for- profit corporation by Special Act of the Ontario Legislature in 1871 and we operate under and comply with all laws and regulations applicable both to cemeteries and non- share corporations in Ontario.

As with all corporations like ours, MPG does not have shareholders and is prohibited from carrying on business for the purpose of gain for its members. Any surpluses generated over and above our expenses remain within the company to ensure we can continue to provide services and maintain our cemetery properties in perpetuity. We have never received any grants, funding or land from any level of government.

There are other important errors in Ms. Francis’ article.

She claims we have $ 2 billion in assets. In fact, the total value of our assets in 2017 is $861 million.

Ms. Francis also claims that our administrative costs are dramatically out of sync with the industry or at least with one of our competitors, SCI. This is a classic “apples and oranges” situation where Ms. Francis looked at all of our costs and compared them to only one part of the competitor’s costs. Had she compared the total costs of both organizations, it would reveal that SCI’s costs as a percentage of revenue are nine points higher than those at MPG.

The cemetery business is unlike any other. We are responsible to care for our properties in perpetuity. No other industry has this responsibility. This means we must be exceptionally cautious and conservative. Beyond this, we must continually innovate to serve the needs of a rapidly growing and changing population in the GTA. We have to think and plan generations ahead to ensure that Torontonians will have suitable burial options as our communities grow and change.

There is no other cemetery group in North-America with a longer or more successful track record of serving the needs of its customers than the Mount Pleasant Group.