With the federal election under way, voters suddenly matter, so it’s a good time to ask candidates about the things that are important to us.
Elections are not just about milking the parties for cash, but campaign-time selfishness is natural, and residents of Victoria and the Island have some things on their minds. If we can’t get politicians’ attention now, we’ll never get it.
If they want our votes, the least they can do is answer a few questions.
Last week ended with more drama in the Capital Regional District’s monumental efforts to build a sewage-treatment system for the core-area municipalities, as required by the federal and provincial governments. The CRD turfed Seaterra manager Albert Sweetnam and his four remaining staffers because the system they were hired to build ran into a roadblock, and the prospect of shovels in the ground seems remote.
Given that almost no one outside the CRD offices (and probably many inside) believes that the sewage committee can meet its deadlines for federal and provincial funding, we could ask the candidates: If your party becomes the government, will you extend the deadline for federal funding for Greater Victoria’s sewage system?
And while we are thinking of perennial issues, there is the Malahat Drive. The provincial government has been dropping money and concrete barricades onto the Island’s notorious stretch of highway to reduce the number of collisions and thus the shutdowns that happen too often.
The feds have cash for roads, as we saw last month with the announcement of money for an interchange at the Trans-Canada Highway and McKenzie Avenue. When the candidates come calling, let’s ask if their parties would put money into truly fixing the Malahat.
Of course, visions of a twinned Malahat turn our fancy to Islanders’ other transportation bugbear: B.C. Ferries. Our favourite ferry corporation gets $1.41 per passenger from the federal government, compared to $493 per passenger in Atlantic Canada. Another suitcase full of dollars would come in very handy.
So we could ask the federal politicians if they would increase funding to B.C. Ferries.
And while we are talking about ships, how about the Royal Canadian Navy’s vessels at CFB Esquimalt? In May, the fire-damaged supply ship HMCS Protecteur was retired after 46 years of service, leaving our West Coast fleet with no supply ship for long-range operations.
The federal government found the money to build Arctic patrol vessels to feed Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s lonely obsession with the frozen North, but is likely going to jury-rig a civilian ship to carry food and fuel to our ships at sea. While we are grateful for shipbuilding contracts, we could ask candidates if their parties would put money into projects that would really make a difference to our navy.
It’s not only the navy that puts to sea, however. Commercial vessels and thousands of recreational boaters ply the waters around Vancouver Island. They want to know that if they need help, they can press the button on their radio and the Canadian Coast Guard will be there.
That’s why many are unhappy that Ottawa has closed and consolidated coast guard stations in B.C. Let’s ask the candidates if they would undo the change and reopen the shuttered coast guard centres.
That’s a long list, and we’re asking a lot of our politicians. But then, they ask a lot of us.
