Province, city need to stop sniping on viaducts

Cash awaits: Vancouver and B.C. stand to benefit from Trudeau promises of infrastructure funding

The B.C. Liberal government and Vision Vancouver-controlled city council were at political odds again this week over the dismantling of the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts as part of a land redevelopment plan.

“Nothing is a done deal here with the viaducts,” Transportation Minister Todd Stone told reporters on the morning after the Vision majority on council voted to proceed. “We should all take a pause here and catch our breath.”

Stone rattled off several reasons why the province intended to use its ownership of some of the land under and around the viaducts as leverage to hold up the scheme: movement of goods, access to government-owned BC Place Stadium, and so forth.

He also complained about the supposed inadequacies of consultations between the city and PavCo, the provincial Crown corporation that is the owner operator of BC Place and adjacent lands.

The latter claim brought an immediate challenge from Vision leaders.

Councillor Geoff Meggs, spearhead of the drive to remove the viaducts, claimed eight meetings between the city and the Crown corporation over two years. “We wouldn’t have started down this path if we didn’t think this would work for BC Place,” he said.

Mayor Gregor Robertson speculated that Stone was simply out to lunch: “He may not have been briefed and updated on the extensive meetings and discussions that have been going on between the city and the province.”

That, in turn, sparked a joke or two about triple-deleted emails, Stone having admitted (during the freedom of information scandal involving the Liberals) that he’d been known to scrub the electronic record clean himself from time to time. Still, the following day Stone continued to insist “there have been no meaningful technical discussions” between the city and province on the access issue, movement of goods and other concerns.

All of which had me wondering whether there was more to the exchange than a communication breakdown.

Perhaps some Liberals were remembering how when they wanted to develop a hotel and casino on the PavCo lands to offset the half-a-billion-dollar tab for replacement of the stadium roof, the Vision-led city council seemed to take political pleasure in frustrating the scheme at every turn.

Now that Vision was looking for ways to cover the estimated $200-million cost of the viaduct removal and redevelopment, was it payback time for the province?

Alternatively, it might just be the Liberals scoring political points off a New Democratic Party-oriented mayor who seldom misses an opportunity to do the same at their expense. For instance, when a freighter spilled oil in English Bay back in April, one of Robertson’s first thoughts was to fault “a lack of leadership by the provincial government.” Lack of leadership? Well how do you like these apples, Mr. Mayor?

Still, by week’s end, there were cooler-head rumblings from both sides about the need for the two administrations to stop sniping publicly, get together and work things out to the mutual benefit of each other and the public they represent.

There is, indeed, a great opportunity here, as Robertson said before the vote at council, and not just for the city. Vancouver wants the dismantling and subsequent makeover of the lands under and around the viaducts to be as self-financing as possible. The province has an interest in covering the stranded costs of cleaning up the old Expo site.

Both governments want to add to the housing stock in a city that doesn’t have nearly enough of it. And both have other concerns as well.

For instance, the province is proceeding with plans to build a centralized, state-of-the-art hospital on the lands to the east of False Creek in preference to the earlier notion of redevelopment on the St. Paul’s site in the West End.

Working more closely with the city, the Liberals could build support for alternative uses for St. Paul’s, as well as integrate the new hospital into other aspects of planning for Vancouver.

The pending change of government at the national level supplies added urgency for the province and the city to put aside partisan differences and co-operate.

Prime minister- designate Justin Trudeau gives every indication of wanting to hit the ground running on a range of promises, including the multibillion-dollar plan to finance infrastructure as a route to job creation and economic growth.

But he’ll be looking for projects that are ready to go, which raises a potential obstacle to B.C. landing a share of federal infrastructure dollars.

For instance, during the election campaign, Trudeau promised federal dollars to expand rapid transit in Metro Vancouver, but left it to the locals to set priorities: light rail through Surrey or the SkyTrain extension along Broadway.

Alas, the regional transit authority has yet to agree which should go first. Neither project is shovel-ready. Plus the province has complicated matters by insisting that any new revenue sources to cover the regional share of project financing be first approved by referendum.

Trudeau also supports a federal return to financing of social housing, another area of mutual interest for both the provincial Liberals and Vision Vancouver. But again: which projects are ready to go?

Doubtless other cities and other provinces already have their wish lists in order.

All the more reason for city and province to shelve the partisan nonsense, and start working together.