Predicting the future is a hazardous pastime, but it’s safe to say that some issues from last year seem almost certain to crop up in 2015. Here in Greater Victoria, water will feature in many discussions, whether we’re crossing it on bridges or pumping it through sewers.
Every politician in the region, whether experienced or newly elected, woke up Thursday morning with the knowledge that the sewage-treatment question did not disappear when 2014 rolled into 2015. They and the rest of us can count on spending more time than we would like wrestling with the problem of how or whether to treat the region’s sewage.
While a few people continue to argue that the current system of pumping screened sewage into Juan de Fuca Strait is more environmentally sound than land-based treatment, the provincial and federal governments have told the Capital Regional District it must build a secondary treatment system by 2018 to receive funding.
Esquimalt has scuttled the CRD’s plan to put a single regional treatment plant on McLoughlin Point, which has thrown the $783-million project into confusion. The province refused to overrule Esquimalt, a decision that has effectively given every municipality a veto over a treatment plant within its borders.
Getting a system built by the deadline and saving the two-thirds funding from senior governments will take a lot of negotiation. The current thinking is that Esquimalt, Langford, Colwood, View Royal and the Songhees First Nation will have one “sub-regional” system, and Victoria, Oak Bay and Saanich will get another one. Unless Victoria goes it alone.
With Saanich’s new mayor, Richard Atwell, a firm opponent of the original plan, and Oak Bay Mayor Nils Jensen the new chairman of the sewage committee, the dynamics around the table are likely to change.
However, the clock is winding down, and there is no time to restart the process from the beginning. Even if the new plan is ready as promised in March, we can’t afford another protracted round of debate and bargaining.
Everyone has to sit down with a commitment to serious negotiation. That means one or more municipalities have to take one for the team and accept a big or small treatment plant.
The dollar amount is smaller, but the water is equally troubled under the Johnson Street Bridge. The project was controversial from the get-go, and problems have only bolstered the arguments of those who say: “I told you so.”
Replacing the bridge was supposed to cost $77 million, but that has climbed to $93 million. The contractors have said they need more money, the city has said no and the dispute has gone to mediation.
As the troubles escalated, former Victoria mayor Dean Fortin continued to insist that the city had a fixed-price contract and it would not pay more. His unshakeable dedication to that line left many voters scratching their heads, and scratching Fortin’s name off their list on election day in November.
It’s never a good idea in politics to pin your future to the cost of a public project. Too many things are beyond your control. As in most areas of life, it’s better to under-promise and over-deliver than to do the reverse.
Council will certainly learn from the woes of the past four years, but with the quality of Chinese steel emerging as a problem, the headaches are not over. This is the biggest project the city has ever undertaken, and with completion expected in 2016, the current council members will have their names emblazoned on its successes and its failures.
Keeping costs under control will be a crucial task. That means councillors must stay informed to avoid dropping unpleasant surprises on taxpayers.
