One thing Horgan can't control. Same old guard that will outlast every government.
Horgan just does not a the will to oppose fat cat developers.
It is the senior guys in MOE that are the problem. Same as mines. The departments need a major overhaul in their polices.
But hey what would I know.
One only has to look at the millions of dollars that government/the tax payer is having to pay to clean up toxic soil and rehabilitate former ocean front industrial properties in the Victoria area and on local military property so they can be redeveloped, to see where it is possible this could end up. Perhaps it would be cheaper in the long run to have the govt. throw the land owner/developer a bone with some healthy funding to the Land Conservancy (as searun suggests) to purchase the land above market value and protect it from future development of this nature. It could even possibly be resold with a restrictive covenant as to its future use which would greatly reduce the cost of protecting it.
,Yep and one needs to look at that smart idea. Where do you thing that soil for that project went? Yep got dumped right next to another salmon enhancement project and shawnigan lake community water supply.
And when that soil moves from top of Shawnigan and it will the taxpayer in Vic is going to pay three times over. Victoria needs to deal with it's own garbage and stop dumping them up island.
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Certainly a valid point and I do empathize, it was completely unfair. If it is ever moved again it will cost all taxpayers not just Victoria. Once you create toxic soil and dig it up, it has to go some place. The disposal becomes a political and financial problem and those with less political power, as in less population with less votes, as well as less politically influential financial elites, pay the environmental cost. No one ever said politics was fair but I understand you were able to have it stopped. No small victory given the political power aligned against you.
The best and cheapest solution where possible, is to learn from the past and not create toxic soil in sensitive locations close to critical waterways that will eventually have to be moved, which is the subject of discussion, - the Cowichan River Estuary. The real question is are those few jobs worth the risk of toxic metal contamination.