Denise Blackwell holds one of the most thankless jobs in Greater Victoria 鈥� and Esquimalt council should give her a break.
As chairwoman of the Capital Regional District鈥檚 sewage committee, Blackwell has been at the centre of the seemingly unending controversy over the plans for a new sewage-treatment system for the region.
This week, Esquimalt council unanimously asked Mayor Barb Desjardins to demand that Blackwell resign all her CRD positions.
The councillors were angry at comments Blackwell, who is also vice-chairwoman of the CRD board and a Langford councillor, made in a story in the Times 91原创 last week.
Last Tuesday, the municipality鈥檚 advisory planning commission rejected a rezoning proposal for the McLoughlin Point sewage plant. While the commission鈥檚 opinion is not binding on council, it鈥檚 another setback for the project.
In describing her disappointment with the decision, Blackwell said: 鈥淚 knew Esquimalt was going to try to put up roadblocks.鈥�
She also said that if Esquimalt doesn鈥檛 rezone the site, it will lose out on $100,000 in permit fees and $950,000 for upgrades to paths and bike routes. Neither comment seems surprising.
However, outraged councillors accused her of being bullying, threatening, disrespectful and insulting. They insisted that only her resignation would compensate.
The CRD has been roundly criticized in these pages for its handling of the project, but let鈥檚 remember that the provincial and federal governments dropped this in the CRD鈥檚 lap.
The debate is heated enough without making it personal.
