Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Clark reassures U.S. politicians on capital region sewage

Premier Christy Clark has reassured U.S. lawmakers that Greater Victoria will have to treat its sewage or face possible financial penalties. In a letter to Gov.
ClarkBBQ.jpg
Premier Christy Clark: "We have made it clear that sewage treatment will happen. This is not up for debate."

Premier Christy Clark has reassured U.S. lawmakers that Greater Victoria will have to treat its sewage or face possible financial penalties.

In a letter to Gov. Jay Inslee and other senior politicians, Clark said she fully expects the Capital Regional District to meet federal and provincial requirements for sewage treatment.

“We have made it clear that sewage treatment will happen — this is not up for debate,” she writes. “Failure to comply with these obligations would result in the possible loss of federal and provincial funding, as well as other potential penalties under federal and provincial laws.”

The federal government has agreed to contribute $253.4 million and the province $248 million to the project if it’s completed by 2018.

The plan hit a major roadblock when Esquimalt refused to rezone McLoughlin Point for a regional treatment plant, and the B.C. government declined to override that decision.

The dispute prompted letters from Inslee and other Washington state politicians alarmed at the potential for further delays.

Inslee complained in his June letter that 20 years have passed since British Columbia first agreed to wastewater treatment in Greater Victoria.

“After years of discussion, planning and commitments on an inter-governmental level, we urge you to get involved to ensure that this project moves forward,” Inslee wrote.

Clark gave no indication of intervening in the dispute.

Victoria Coun. Geoff Young, who chairs the CRD's liquid waste management committee, said it’s clear from the premier’s letter that sewage treatment must happen.

“Certainly that is the reading of most of the board that there is not any way of avoiding doing sewage treatment,” he said.

Young continues to push the CRD’s offer of $19 million to cover Esquimalt’s share of the capital costs if it reverses course and allows the plant at McLoughlin Point.

“My main hope is that Esquimalt residents will speak to their Esquimalt councillors,” he said.

“I think when people say to them, ‘Gosh, why are we paying our taxes to build a plant in the centre of downtown Esquimalt when the CRD would have built one for us for free at McLoughlin Point? I think some of them will have a tough time answering that question.”

But Saanich Coun. Vic Derman called that strategy “bankrupt,” and Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins said it’s gaining little traction among Esquimalt residents.

“I think people are a little bit disgusted with the idea of the proposal,” she said.

Desjardins said Esquimalt council rejected McLoughlin Point following a full public process, and that it’s time the CRD looked at other options.

If the CRD makes a formal request for Esquimalt to reconsider its decision, it will trigger another public process and eat up more time with no guarantee of a different outcome, she said.

“McLoughlin went through its process and it did not get re-zoned, so it’s time to move on,” she said. “We, in Esquimalt, are doing that.”

lkines@timescolonist.com