A controversial personality, British Columbia鈥檚 25th premier, W.A.C. Bennett, was undoubtedly a builder.
History has been mostly kind to the institutions he built over a 20-year span. One of his creative, if obscure, gems was a Crown corporation enacted by the Capital Improvement District Commission Act (1956) to oversee beautification and enhancement of the capital region (expanded as the Provincial Capital Commission in 1977 by his son, premier Bill Bennett).
With the legislature dormant by B.C. Liberal decree, on Nov. 19, 2013, W.A.C. Bennett鈥檚 vision for B.C.鈥檚 capital city was unceremoniously blown up by a very different yet self-styled free enterpriser and Kelowna MLA, Premier Christy Clark. Victorians and British Columbians need to scrutinize the flimsy, politically short-sighted reasons offered by her government.
Her minister in charge of government鈥檚 core review stated the PCC was no longer needed, its termination part of a cost-cutting agenda. Yet the PCC鈥檚 management of public assets under previous governments and the B.C. Liberals contributes positively to the provincial treasury.
The Liberals are slashing supports for vulnerable kids, eliminating seniors鈥� free travel on weekday ferries and tightening the screws on citizens needing assistance, supposedly to tame the province鈥檚 deficit. Why then, jettison a self-sustaining earner for the taxpayer?
In the absence of any plausible answers, we need to ask what we鈥檙e losing with the destruction and potential asset sale of this small, nimble agency.
Is a capital improvement district no longer needed today? Other provinces disagree. Since the 2000s, a conservative Saskatchewan government and a Quebec Liberal administration created similar Crown entities based on B.C.鈥檚 positive experience.
Do the B.C. Liberals suddenly believe the PCC is the wrong model to maximize taxpayer value for developing properties held in the public interest on the Inner Harbour and throughout the capital region? Why then did the Liberals, under their watch, seismically upgrade and revamp the Crystal Garden (2006) and CPR Steamship Terminal Building (2012)?
While the Liberals haven鈥檛 disavowed these recent investments, apparently they retroactively oppose past PCC projects like the Galloping Goose Trail, Lochside Trail and capital green spaces inventory.
The PCC鈥檚 revitalization of St. Ann鈥檚 Academy (1996) houses cost-effective Class-A office space for public servants and public grounds enjoyed by tens of thousands annually 鈥� a jewel of our young province鈥檚 built heritage. The St. Ann鈥檚 project is a good example of what we risk losing with the Liberals鈥� hasty dismemberment.
The preservation and repurposing of this significant edifice is an example of government at its entrepreneurial best. The revitalization was paid with government up-zoning an underutilized 鈥淵 Lot鈥� asphalt parcel, where a Marriott hotel and two Concert Properties mixed-use developments now stand. A smart government leveraged major off-Island private capital, while adding vibrancy and downtown residency to the capital.
As we look for ways for B.C. to maximize job growth and sustainable economic development, the winding-up of the PCC instead brings uncertainty to the long-identified need to redevelop the decrepit Belleville International Ferry terminal. This important 91原创 Island gateway for goods, services and visitors to and from the United States adds more than $120 million to B.C.鈥檚 GDP annually.
Even a Liberal-appointed blue-ribbon panel concluded terminal redevelopment could double tourist arrivals into the millions of visitors annually. Yet no action has occurred under this government.
While another public/non-profit project lead could yet be identified to redevelop Belleville terminal, the PCC has the advantage of controlling the properties and a long-standing relationship with the private U.S. ferry operators, Canada Customs and U.S. Homeland Security. One wonders whether this government has performed due diligence to make an informed decision.
Indeed, many in the capital region鈥檚 business community, including tourism operators and some export-oriented producers, wonder whether the B.C. Liberals are spiting a strong business redevelopment case with politics by liquidating a self-sustaining PCC to punish 91原创 Island for not wholeheartedly embracing the premier鈥檚 party.
If that is the case, they clearly fail to grasp both the good business sense of investing in a region that is one of our province鈥檚 major economic drivers, as well as the political sense of governing well to build their own case for support from voters.
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Rob Fleming is the New Democrat MLA for Victoria-Swan Lake and former Victoria city councillor and city appointee to the Provincial Capital Commission.
