- FORGET SEWAGE TREATMENT, GO LIGHT RAIL INSTEAD
- KILL SEWAGE PLANT TO PAY FOR LIGHT RAIL
- DAVID LANGLEY COMMENTS AT CALWMC 13 APRIL MEETING (attached)
- NOW THAT IGGY'S OUT, HOW ABOUT JUSTIN TRUDEAU (sewage comments)
- INTERNATIONAL MARINE CONSERVATION CONGRESS, VICTORIA, 14-18 MAY
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FORGET SEWAGE TREATMENT, GO LIGHT RAIL INSTEAD
Letters
Elizabeth Woodworth
Times Colonist
May 03, 2011
If a thousand million dollars is available to be spent on infrastructure in the capital region, we must select the most costeffective and environmentally sound project to carry us into the future.
The optics of the sewage issue have been politically generated. Many people are not aware that the scientific monitoring of the existing system has, from Day 1, revealed no environmental problems with our system.
Victoria's strong ocean currents are uniquely suited to spread our finely screened natural organic wastes far and wide into the ocean. Toxic wastes are controlled by the successful Capital Regional District source control program and do not reach the ocean in significant amounts.
Six B.C. public health officers, and 10 marine biologists (from both sides of the border) have declared Victoria sewage treatment to be a non-issue.
The dependence on cars and oil, however, and the increasing gridlock we see on Victoria's congested streets, coupled with woefully inadequate parking, are issues of immediate concern.
Light rapid transit is a present and future necessity in the capital region.
There is a new window of opportunity to afford LRT, because the decision to proceed with land-based sewage treatment is suddenly not a done deal. The federal "one size fits all" sewage regulations are not yet in place, and the province awaits a new election.
Now is the time to re-examine our priorities for mega-projects within the capital region, and vote accordingly.
Elizabeth Woodworth
Victoria
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KILL SEWAGE PLANT TO PAY FOR LIGHT RAIL
Letters
Times Colonist (web-only)
2 May 2011
How to pay for the light rail? How about we take the $1-billion-plus to be spent on unnecessary sewage treatment and use it for the light-rail system? A much better use of our money.
John Miller
Victoria
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DAVID LANGLEY COMMENTS AT CALWMC 13 APRIL MEETING ATTACHED
Thanks to David for sending note of his comments at 13 April CALWMC meeting.
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NOW THAT IGGY'S OUT, HOW ABOUT JUSTIN TRUDEAU (sewage comments)
Excerpt from news story below:
Come to think of it, the federal government's promise to commit a third of the funding for the capital region's planned $782 million sewage-treatment project was never put in writing, either. Those who think the sewage treatment plan is being driven by politics, not science, would be quite happy to see the whole thing collapse.
Stephen Harper ducked the overpass-sewage funding question (the only one he fielded from local reporters) during a campaign stop in Saanich. "Generally I leave those kind of questions to local candi-dates," was all the prime minister would say. If Harper was that noncommittal during the race, how keen will he be to shovel our money back at us now that Victoria has rejected the Conservatives in favour of hippies and communists, as those in our other capital (Calgary) might see us?
Jack Knox,
Times Colonist
May 4, 2011
Random, bleary-eyed observations from the election campaign:
- In the waning days of the campaign Michael Ignatieff did his best to come across as an ordinary Canadian, but still sounded as though he was speaking Common as a Second Language. Listening to Iggy trying to talk like a Tim Hortons-sucking Canuck, dropping his G's the way Stanfield fumbled the football, was like watching Gordon Campbell trying to appear comfortable in a plaid shirt in the 1996 provincial election campaign.
"He's as condescending and arrogant as Trudeau, but without the charisma," one longtime local Conservative observed of Ignatieff. Unfair, perhaps, but that's the widespread perception.
As Ignatieff himself said: "When Canadians met me they thought, 'Hey, he's not so bad,' but I didn't meet enough Canadians."
Justin Trudeau, anyone?
- Having turned its back on the Conservatives, Victoria could be in line for a very localized return to capital punishment.
Or, what do you think the chances are of seeing a McKenzie overpass now that its biggest booster, perennial Conservative bridesmaid Troy DeSouza - who is to Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca what Susan Lucci was to the Emmy Awards - has been edged out yet again?
Come to think of it, the federal government's promise to commit a third of the funding for the capital region's planned $782 million sewage-treatment project was never put in writing, either. Those who think the sewage treatment plan is being driven by politics, not science, would be quite happy to see the whole thing collapse.
Stephen Harper ducked the overpass-sewage funding question (the only one he fielded from local reporters) during a campaign stop in Saanich. "Generally I leave those kind of questions to local candi-dates," was all the prime minister would say. If Harper was that noncommittal during the race, how keen will he be to shovel our money back at us now that Victoria has rejected the Conservatives in favour of hippies and communists, as those in our other capital (Calgary) might see us?
- The Green Party party at Sidney's Viscount Aero Centre featured more young people and better music - including Bill Henderson of Chilliwack fame teamed with Valdy, and a terrific young band called the Archers - than I have seen in more than 30 years of mooching free food at postelection shindigs. Alas, it being a Green affair, the buffet contained no meat; being a veteran journalist I prepared for this eventual-ity by smuggling in a Big Mac just in case I suffered an allergic reaction and went into shock.
All those young campaign workers should have been a clue that the Greens were up to something in Saanich-Gulf Islands. They had close to 2,000 volunteers over the course of the five-week campaign. That's more people than were enlisted in the Royal Canadian Navy at the outbreak of the Second World War.
- When an all-candidates forum at the Mary Winspear Centre clashed with the Stanley Cup playoffs, several of those present - including MP Gary Lunn, who showed up in a Canucks sweater - mentioned they were glum to be missing the game on TV.
Elizabeth May, on the other hand, said she wasn't thrilled about missing Maundy Thursday church service. (For those staring blankly at the page, it's the day before Good Friday.) It was a reminder that May, a staunch Anglican, was at one point working her way toward ordination. She said Tuesday that she hasn't taken any classes for a couple of years; it now appears to be a case of having one more member of Parliament and one less minister.
- Moments after the polls had closed on election night, Conservative campaign workers could be seen removing Lunn's election signs from the side of the Pat Bay Highway. Good for them. It's bad enough when the signs go up, but worse when they're allowed to linger.
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INTERNATIONAL MARINE CONSERVATION CONGRESS, VICTORIA, 14-18 MAY
The 2011 International Marine Conservation Congress (IMCC) represents the second stand-alone marine conservation meeting of the Society for Conservation Biology's (SCB) Marine Section. The first IMCC in Washington DC, 2009, attracted over 1200 participants. This landmark Congress will serve to unite the marine conservation community and develop new and powerful tools to further marine conservation science and policy.
The IMCC is aimed at advancing marine conservation by facilitating discussion among scientists, managers and policy makers and developing science-based products that inform policy change and implementation.
Presentations with "sewage" keywords:
Day Paper# Room Author(s) Title
2011-05-15 C10.8 Salon C Sakanan Plathong; Pinsak Suraswadi; Pattamaporn Mardnui Causal analysis and management intervention for sustainable uses of island and coral reef of Ko Tao, Thailand.
2011-05-16 HUMAN 8.2 Oak Bay Orams, M.B. Marine tourism, conservation and ecosystem resilience
2011-05-18 C12.4 Salon C Wilkinson, C; Brodie, J Effective Catchment Management and Coral Reef Conservation: Best Practice Case Studies Presented as a Practical Guide to Assist Coastal Zone Managers
FOR MORE INFORMATION: http://www.conbio.org/
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END
