The Ministry of Transportation noted in passing the other day that it has spent more than $548 million on Vancouver Island in the last decade.
It was the third-to-last line of a news release announcing - wait for it - $1.8 million worth of work on the road to Bamfield. And officials had to include road maintenance to bulk it up a little. In Metro Vancouver, they don't even bother issuing news releases for projects that small.
The difference between the two locales was evident through the course of debate on Transportation Minister Blair Lekstrom's estimates. They spent hours going over the South Fraser Perimeter Road, the Golden Ears Bridge, the Port Mann Bridge and the Evergreen SkyTrain extension.
They add up to billions of dollars worth of projects. From Vancouver Island, it's easy to build up some jealousy about the relentless drive to pour transportation money into Gate way related ideas. But some of them - Port Mann and Golden Ears bridges - come with new tolling systems.
A five-minute jaunt over a bridge can cost you $5, enough to provoke arguments that will rage inside and outside the legislature for years.
And paying the bill for all that work - tolls are only part of the bill - is turning into a preoccupation. Every idea that comes up - vehicle levies, property taxes, gas hikes - swerves into a ditch and burns hours later. The notion of a vehicle levy earned a mayor a death threat recently.
The Opposition devoted a few hours to how the government is doing it all wrong on the Lower Mainland.
When their attention turned to the south Island, the theme shifted. There isn't much to criticize in the capital, because the government hasn't done much of anything. So it was much more about what they should be doing.
And since New Democrats are looking like strong favourites to win the next election, their ideas list carries extra weight. They could easily soon be responsible for implementing all the bright notions they are now suggesting.
The first one is what sounds like a new taxing agency, a South Island transportation authority. EsquimaltRoyal Roads MLA Maurine Karagianis said a central governing body is needed to make the call on all the disparate transportation issues in the region. The discussions need to be centralized in one place, she said.
Lekstrom said the big review of ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Transit ordered in March will answer that concern.
Elsewhere, a SkyTrain for Greater Victoria is far off in the future, so what's needed now are things like high-occupancy vehicle lanes, said Karagianis.
Victoria-Swan Lake MLA Rob Fleming said ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Transit had to leave 30,000 passengers behind during the last five-month reporting period because the buses were full. Most of them were on Camosun College and University of Victoria routes.
ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Transit has added 7,000 hours of service this year, but it just replaces hours that were cut last year.
Fleming said bus-only lanes during rush hours on major routes should be investigated.
The Blue Bridge project is the starkest example of the ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Liberals' lack of interest in the capital. The $93-million replacement for an obviously regional link doesn't have a nickel of provincial money in it.
Said Lekstrom: "There are always far more requests that there is the ability to fund ... . Had we made the decision to invest in the Blue Bridge, it would have meant no other projects virtually in the south Island."
The Opposition also made clear the sacred relic of the E&N Railway is near and dear to their hearts, which will turn out to be a very expensive article of faith, if they follow through on it.
Just So You Know: If today's NDP questions hint at a possible NDP government's policies after next year's election, it sounds like the gold-plated pensions secured by top ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Ferries executives are also on the list of issues to do something about.
NDP critic Gary Coons (North Coast) urged Lekstrom to check whether the ongoing cost of the big pensions is included in the administrative costs reported to the independent ferry commissioner who regulates the corporation.
"Would the minister investigate looking at the secondary pensions and seeing if we can do something to look at that issue?" he asked. "Hopefully, this could be an out to look at the secondary pensions."
