Victoria’s sewage project is in crisis again, and the provincial government’s chickens are coming home to roost. On Monday night, Esquimalt council voted down the Capital Regional District’s zoning request for the proposed McLoughlin Point treatment plant.
Council instead passed its own version of the bylaw, which the CRD says is unworkable.
That means the $783-million project lands back in the lap of the provincial government, where newly minted Environment Minister Mary Polak says she has no intention of intervening. Good luck with that.
CRD chairman Alastair Bryson is expected to ask for a meeting with Polak shortly.
The environment minister inherits a controversy that has riven Greater Victoria for years — and her own government has to shoulder a large measure of blame.
The CRD proposed a rezoning that included $1 million in amenities for the municipality, such as electrical and firefighting upgrades, a public walkway, and road and bike-lane improvements. It would also include a sewage-education centre, which is unlikely to be a big draw for Esquimalt residents, who have had plenty of education on sewage in the past few years.
In response, Esquimalt council approved a bylaw that demands building a new pier and barging all construction materials to minimize road traffic, a $75,000 public open space, odour-reduction technology and an annual contribution of $55,000 to an amenity fund. The CRD says those demands are beyond Esquimalt’s authority.
By passing that bylaw, Esquimalt has signalled it will accept the treatment plant, if the price is right.
With the two bodies at loggerheads, Polak is going to be drawn into the controversy, whether she likes it or not.
“We have the authority to step in, if need be,” she said just after being appointed. “But again, our preference is that they resolve these things between themselves.”
They didn’t resolve things between themselves, which was probably inevitable because of the provincial authority that Polak noted.
It was the province that ordered the region to develop a sewage-treatment plan, something the local politicians would probably have avoided, as their predecessors had avoided it for decades. Early in the process, the provincial government, which is paying one-third of the cost, made it clear that it had the power to override municipal decisions to ensure the project went ahead.
By making that pronouncement, the government created an environment where the people in the trenches would be unlikely to co-operate. With the province looming in the background, everyone knew that they could stand their ground and let the government make the final decision. Polak insisted on Tuesday that they have to work it out themselves, but that isn’t going to happen.
As in an ancient Greek play, the actors want Polak to become the deus ex machina, the god who descends from a machine to determine everyone’s fate. Chances are good that it won’t be a happy ending.
It was unfair for the B.C. Liberals to come down on the region like a tonne of bricks, order a sewage plan and then step away, saying: “You go do it.”
It set up the local governments for the years of acrimony we have all suffered. If, instead, the province had acted more like a partner or a helper, it might have avoided pitting municipalities against the CRD.
As it stands, not only has Esquimalt handed the province one hot potato, it has added a second by passing a motion asking B.C. and the federal government to stop funding for the project until an independent audit is done.
With some wisdom and diplomacy, the government might be able to cool the tempers and find a workable compromise. The B.C. Liberals had a hand in creating this mess; they should help clean it up.
