Judging from the letters we receive, many of our readers are mystified by the way Victoria鈥檚 sewage project is being handled. Some can鈥檛 understand why the Capital Regional District is scrapping an existing model many experts consider safe.
Others are puzzled why huge sums are being allocated to this project, when more urgent problems, such as homelessness, demand attention. And where is the business case?
On one level, the answer to these questions is simple: The CRD was ordered to carry out the rebuild by Ottawa and the provincial government. End of discussion.
Except that doesn鈥檛 end the discussion; it simply raises a new question. How does it come about that massive costs can be inflicted on local taxpayers without their having any say in the matter?
Canada鈥檚 public sector is built on interlocking jurisdictions. Each level of government 鈥� federal, provincial and municipal 鈥� has its own responsibilities and its own taxing powers.
But what is happening with the wastewater project defies this arrangement. In effect, the two senior tiers of government have used their regulatory powers to gang up on the third.
There are limited guarantees against this form of force majeure. In 2011, the Supreme Court of Canada invalidated a proposed new federal statute, because it 鈥渟o overwhelmed provincial jurisdiction 鈥� as to be beyond the acceptable range of overlap inherent to flexible federalism.鈥�
Municipalities lack this protection, since they have no independent status under our constitution. Nevertheless, the principle is worth preserving.
Violence is done to our system of government when politicians at one level can offload their problems on another with impunity. And that is what has happened here.
It鈥檚 true that both senior levels of government have offered compensation for their actions. The province says it will pay $248 million toward the cost of the project, and the federal government has offered $83 million to date, with the possibility of a further $170 million.
Yet the total of these contributions 鈥� $501 million 鈥� is only half the cost many expect the real price tag to be: at least $1 billion. That leaves local governments, whose tax base is the weakest, paying the lion鈥檚 share of the bill.
Even if Ottawa raises its contribution, the problem remains. The CRD鈥檚 authority has been thoroughly trampled, and residents of Greater Victoria are left without recourse.
Adding insult to injury, the province is playing hide and seek.
Here is how the Environment Ministry answered a recent request to clarify its role: 鈥淭he timely implementation of the [wastewater plant] is a local government issue that the CRD has both the ability and responsibility to fulfil. Decisions around facility siting also fall within the jurisdiction of the CRD. 鈥� The ministry does not intend to intervene.鈥�
That isn鈥檛 how co-operative federalism works. That is how absentee landlords behave.
And what does this blather even mean? For the second time, Esquimalt council has just rejected the CRD鈥檚 original preference 鈥� a single plant at McLoughlin Point. How is that possible, if siting decisions belong to the CRD?
The three tiers of government must sit down together, review the science, establish a realistic budget and work out a fair sharing of the costs.
No more buck-passing, no more bafflegab and no more arbitrary deadlines.
That, at any rate, is how sensible politicians would behave. Common sense, however, is one of the many desirable features this project lacks.
