Things are shipshape for the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority, says president and CEO Curtis Grad.
“It was a very good year for us,” Grad said Thursday, in advance of the GVHA’s annual general meeting. “If you take the entire trend line starting in 2002, our first year of operation, we started at just under $2 million in revenue in 2002-03 and every year, year over year, we’ve continued to grow.”
Financial statements released Thursday showed $8.3 million in revenue for 2012-13, an increase of 11 per cent over the previous year.
Highlights of the past year include a record cruise-ship season that brought 224 vessels and 503,675 passengers to the city. Grad also touted the installation of a handrail at the Ogden Point breakwater — a move that at first generated controversy — and progress in development of the Steamship Terminal near the legislature.
Grad said the terminal’s Robert Bateman Centre is “a strong cultural attraction,” and he is looking forward to the Steamship Grill and Taphouse opening in November or December.
Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins, a GVHA board member, agreed that there is a positive outlook. “With the opening of the Bateman Centre in the Steamship Terminal and with the upcoming restaurant going in and the deck being added, this is a world-class entrance to the harbour and stage one of maybe more that we can facilitate there.”
Fran Hobbis, who chairs the Downtown Victoria Business Association board, said the number of cruise ships has been good for the economy.
“Our members are certainly seeing the benefit of having all those extra tourist dollars.”
She said the harbour authority is doing well with the job it was given. “They have a huge mandate and a lot of challenges and responsibilities, and they do their best to represent the interest of the harbourfront properties. It’s challenging times for all of us who are trying to promote the Inner Harbour and environs.”
Victoria Coun. Shellie Gudgeon, also a GVHA board member, called for increasing collaboration among the various groups with an interest in the harbour. Her position on the board generated controversy earlier this year when she was originally rejected as the City of Victoria’s representative. At the time, the board said it wanted people with expertise in such things as cruises, marinas and harbour-related business. How appointments are handled is now under review by the harbour authority.
The issue of who will control the Victoria Harbour water airport or “aerodrome” was not an issue at Thursday’s AGM because it arose after the 2012-13 fiscal year, but Gudgeon said it is still an important part of the harbour’s future.
“It comes in with the city’s harbour-wide vision,” she said.
Both the City of Victoria and the GVHA have taken a careful approach to issue, which came up in mid-July when Transport Canada put forward the idea of transferring control.
