- LRT OFFERS BENEFITS, UNLIKE SEWAGE TREATMENT
- CRD CALWMC MEETING MINUTES 13 APRIL
- CFAX POLL: TRANSIT VERSUS SEWAGE TREATMENT
- ESQUIMALT-JUAN de FUCA: CANDIDATES DIVIDED ON TRANSIT
- CRD SEWAGE LETTER GOING TO ESQUIMALT COUNCIL
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LRT OFFERS BENEFITS, UNLIKE SEWAGE TREATMENT
Letters
Dr. Shaun Peck
Times Colonist
May 01, 2011
There will be tremendous economic, environmental and family health benefits from building the proposed $950-million light rail from Victoria to the West Shore. There will be a cost-benefit for this long overdue transportation improvement.
This is in contrast to the proposed $780-million sewage treatment plan. These plants will have no benefit to public health, will have an adverse effect on the overall environment and offer no measurable benefit for this huge cost.
Light rail should be the priority for our region -not sewage treatment plants. Victoria's marine environment is unique. The deep sea outfalls enable our screened liquid waste to be treated naturally.
There should be tough questions asked about the planned sewage treatment plants while moving forward with improved transportation.
Dr. Shaun Peck
Victoria
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CRD CALWMC MEETING MINUTES 13 APRIL (11 May next meeting)
Minutes of a Meeting of the Core Area Liquid Waste Management Committee Held 13 April 2011
Presentations/Delegations
D. Langley, re: item 6 - requested that the Committee review the Ernst & Young market sounding report and release the information to the public. He suggested the information needs to considered, based on changes to the project and unresolved resource recovery issues.
Dr. S. Peck re: item 5 - spoke about the need for a draft project definition before the draft commission bylaw is approved. He mentioned that members of the commission should be properly remunerated; therefore, a budget for the commission is necessary. Dr. Peck spoke against the land based sewage treatment project.
Core Area Liquid Waste Management Project Governance
READ MORE FROM MINUTES HERE:
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CFAX POLL: TRANSIT VERSUS SEWAGE TREATMENT
ARESST: see attached graphic of this recent poll. If you wish to vote in this poll, you may still be able to (not sure), click here to go to poll. If you are interested in pursuing more information about the Light Rapid Transit mega-project, here is link to their reports website: http://www.
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ARESST: Excerpt from news below: All six candidates agreed sewage treatment is needed on the South Island and all concurred the Capital Regional District’s current proposal is undesirable. Before a decision is made and all three levels of government chip in their one-third shares of the nearly $1-billion project, technologies must be reinvestigated to ensure the region gets its money’s worth from the service, they said, including resource recovery. Porter said the federal government must step in to organize public forums where residents could debate the issue and decide what’s best for the region.
ESQUIMALT-JUAN de FUCA: CANDIDATES DIVIDED ON TRANSIT (but all want sewage treatment)
Erin Cardone
Victoria News, Saanich News
April 28, 2011
In one of Canada’s hottest contests this election, six candidates can’t agree on how to solve the transportation woes of Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca.
Whether it’s rail, an overpass on the Trans-Canada Highway or a move away from gas-powered vehicles altogether, the opinions are as varied as the candidates presenting them.
As Green Party candidate Shaunna Salsman sees it, job creation would eliminate the need to commute. Any commuters remaining should steer clear of the gas station.
“I still see personal vehicles in the future, but I just see clean-energy personal vehicle in the future,” she said. “I don’t think road improvements are a backwards way.”
Those road improvements are the signature priority of Conservative candidate Troy DeSouza, who lost to current Liberal MP Keith Martin by just a handful of votes in the 2008 election.
DeSouza said his plan is to get federal funding for an overpass to cross the Trans-Canada at McKenzie Avenue, but doesn’t stop there. That overpass must have high-occupancy vehicle lanes. That’s the medium-term goal. Long-term, the region needs rail, he said.
“We need integrated transportation that actually works for commuters,” he said.
“I’m also a huge proponent of rail, but in the short term it’s going to be a challenge. … Other candidates are saying we’ve got to choose (between road and rail). I’m saying you could do both.”
Liberal candidate Lillian Szpak said the cost issues associated with an all-encompassing transportation solution could be addressed if the federal government hands 100 per cent of gas tax revenue back to municipalities.
“It would go a long way toward (solving the transit puzzle),” she said. “It would be ongoing sustainable funding.”
Increased gas tax revenues should be handed to municipalities immediately and on the Island, that money would fix the E&N railway to move commuters and freight, said NDP candidate Randall Garrison.
“Those are two things we can do right away,” he said, adding rail is the solution to keeping commuters moving.
Independent candidate Louis Lesosky agreed the E&N is the answer for commuters and said people need to get out of their cars.
Meanwhile, Canadian Action Party candidate Christopher Porter didn’t give a specific vision for the region’s transportation, but said the answer would be found in public forums.
•••
At the mention of the word defence, Porter quickly noted Canada’s border integrity is at risk.
He said outside military forces should not be welcomed too easily into the country and added our own forces should stay at home more often.
Lesosky said the Canadian Forces should stick to peacekeeping missions with the United Nations – and when they aren’t abroad, should pick up a shovel and contribute to food production.
While Garrison said defence spending should favour ships before jets, other candidates said Canada should prioritize both – as long as the money went to the right jets.
“I know we’re all in this together – I’m not going choose one branch of service or another,” DeSouza said.
•••
All six candidates agreed sewage treatment is needed on the South Island and all concurred the Capital Regional District’s current proposal is undesirable.
Before a decision is made and all three levels of government chip in their one-third shares of the nearly $1-billion project, technologies must be reinvestigated to ensure the region gets its money’s worth from the service, they said, including resource recovery.
Porter said the federal government must step in to organize public forums where residents could debate the issue and decide what’s best for the region.
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CRD SEWAGE LETTER GOING TO ESQUIMALT COUNCIL
AGENDA
REGULAR MEETING OF COUNCIL
Monday, May 2, 2011
7:00 p.m.
Esquimalt Council Chambers
(4) Letter from Glenn Harris, Capital Regional District, dated April 27, 2011, Re: Review of the Capital Regional District’s Commitments Under the Core Area Liquid Waste Management Plan (Chapters 10 and 11) Pg. 174 – 175
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END.
