View From Victoria: Wastewater treatment facility drama continues

0:00America leads the world in medicine development. It matters. We get new medicines first, nearly three years faster. Five million Americans go to work because we make medicines here at home, and not relying on other countries keeps us safe. But China is racing to overtake us. Will we let them? Or will we choose to stay ahead? When America leads, America cures. Let's tell Washington to keep us in the lead. Learn how at americancures.com. Paid for by pharma. All right, that music means it's Friday. It also means it's time for us to talk with Von Palmer from the Vancouver Sun. Good morning, Von. And good morning, Jimmy. Okay, so I would say it's been a bit of a rough week for the NDP government. Yeah, you know, it was interesting how they started the week. They did that event with the school kids and the premier dancing and all that stuff to celebrate. Selling the question once and for all about what should happen to the time. We're going to go to permanent daylight saving it. It was pretty hard to not realize that this was an attempt to distract everybody from the fall

1:04out over the budget, which has no friends and no defenders other than the government itself. They did get a distraction too, but I don't think it was the one they expected because also on Monday, the entire Musqueam Aboriginal rights and title agreement controversy erupted. And it was still going on yesterday in question period in the legislature. These things don't usually have that kind of legs, but the government managed to make it worse pretty much every day. So they got a distraction, not the one they were looking for. Oh, so what was going on in the legislature yesterday then? Again, you know, the premier and the minister both being asked why they gave such misleading accounts of what was going on earlier in the week. So the premier knew nothing about it. Oh, wait a minute. I was there and I witnessed the signing, but I still don't know anything about it because Ottawa didn't tell me. Oh, wait, they briefed us on it. Yeah, but it was a junior staffer.

2:05So it doesn't really count that a junior staffer told us what was going on. If you really want to get this government's attention, you pretty much have to phone the premier himself or maybe his deputy. Everybody else some days is under the loop. So you know, you had you had cumulatively the premier's own credibility on the table and cumulatively the ineffectiveness and out of the loop of the minister of indigenous relations, Spencer Chan Herbert. And then, you know, the thing that does have lives because, you know, politicians move on is what they said about the growing public anxiety and anger and confusion over what is actually going on in BC and in this country with indigenous reconciliation. And, you know, I will say here at the end of the week, Simi, it seems like our governments

3:08still don't really realize what they've done here. They're all on side. They know what they're doing. They say they don't have any choice. You know, the courts have said we have to do it and we're working on it and we're doing this and private property isn't on the table and all that. That's not the impression they give to the public. They really, really, Simi have not brought the public along on this. It's increasingly evident. I think our indigenous leaders are increasingly frustrated by that. The premier said something pretty shocking yesterday. He said that the Musqueam chief says he's had death threats over this week. Oh, man. And the premier blames the conservative opposition on that. Well, I would say the problem is government secrecy, denial, what's going on, and a gross failure to bring the public along with what's going on.

4:14And every now and then something comes out and people go, where the hell did this come from? Who knew that? You know, there's so many examples of this that the government doesn't have clean hands on this. So it's already well, it's the opposition's fault. It wasn't the opposition out there confusing people on this. Everything would be fine. No, it wouldn't. The government has made this mess provincial. Federal too. Absolutely. Yeah. There's no plan. I was distant. If they know how contentious this is going to be, then there has to be a way to message this to the public and there has been zero messaging to the public on this. Yeah. You know, I talked to somebody who deals who used to be in government and deals a lot with them on this issue. And he said one of the biggest problems on this is that everybody in government, pretty much politicians and their staff, but also a lot of the bureaucrats, federal and provincially, he said, they are all of the same view.

5:19They are all so welcome this issue that they don't recognize that the public is not there with them. So you talk to them and they immediately switch to the language of reconciliation. And of course, of course, all this we have to do this and truth and reconciliation commissions and decolonialization and land acknowledgments and all that. And he said they've lost the political ability to talk to ordinary folk voters who were distracted by hundreds of other issues and concerns and get them on the same page and get them to see what's happening and why. And so constantly something comes along and people discover what they're claiming all of Kamloops. Well, they are. There's a court filing saying that. What? They've recognized Aboriginal title over Metro Vancouver and not laid down any boundaries on that at all. Yeah, well,

6:23they did. And this is semi, as I say, we know in our business, it keeps coming across our table. And what I think we've all found is there's such a level of public interest and concern about this now that each of these developments is a bigger and bigger story. And it reinforces a narrative that is not in the interests of the government that are trying to do the right thing on this. Score more with the college branded Venmo debit card and earn up to 5% cashback with Venmo stash. Got paid back with the Venmo debit card you can infinitely access your balance and spend on what you want like game day snacks, gear, tickets and more. The more you do with the more cashback you can earn, plus there's no monthly fear minimum balance. Sign up now at Venmo.com slash college card. The Venmo master card is issued by the bank court bank NA select schools available. Venmo stash terms and exclusions apply at Venmo dot me slash dash terms max $100 cashback per month. During lows pro savings days save more on what goes into the job add power to your lineup with

7:27a free to walk 20 volt max five amp hour battery when you buy a select to walk 20 volt max tool. Plus get up to 35% off select major appliances for world pool, maytag and more. Get the job done right. Keep more in your pocket. That's pro savings days. Our best lineup is here at Lowe's Valley through 327 selection fairs by location raw supplies last. We are back talking with Von Palmer from the Vancouver Sun and once again yes you're seeing that North Shore wastewater treatment fiasco situation back in the news and once again Von questions to the province of why don't they do something? Yeah it's pretty shocking and every time I look at this thing there I see some new set of numbers that are shocking so you know you have the linda mecanon and little out there yesterday this number I haven't heard this one before. Our residents are taking on additional costs this is on nw yesterday afternoon. Our residents

8:29are taking on additional costs depending on the property they'll be paying $590 more a year to just under $1200 a year starting in 2028 and 72% of that payment of that $1200 is interest on this over budget project and you know and and here would be the frustration if you lived on the North Shore. You didn't do this. The formula says that you're getting the wastewater treatment plant so you have to pay for it and you have to pay for the overrun okay that's what the formula says but this wasn't a decision made just by you it was made by the entire apparatus running with Metro Vancouver and no one has taken the fall for what happened there no one's even provided an adequate explanation for it and the message they gave yesterday was to the premier

9:31uh look you said that if you don't get adequate answers you're going to do an inquiry well it's time to do it because nothing else that you or anybody else has done has worked and the organization semi is so dysfunctional it can fix this problem it has neither the ability nor the political will to do so what is the hold up because like when you asked the premier about this he's oh yeah yeah we're like looking at this they keep promising things what's the hold up well there there's a practical hold up and there's a political hold up the practical hold up is that this thing is the subject of a lawsuit to actually or a suit in the counter suit so Metro Vancouver is suing the contractor it fired and the fired contractor is suing Metro Vancouver and now it may be a matter of political convenience that that case isn't going to go ahead until next year now the courts are clogged and all

10:34that but this hasn't exactly been a rust job to get this thing in front of the courts but of course if it's in front of the courts it's pretty hard to hold a public inquiry that practically is just a reality and um but it's also damn convenient that the case has been put off and put off and put all the other thing of course is um if you order a public inquiry you kind of wear the findings to some degree just as if you say the regional government structure isn't working in Metro Vancouver because other parts of the province it seems to work just fine you're going to make it over well then you wear that as well so I think part of it is the premier goal let's not get into this at least until the civic election year is over and even then do we really want to do this and wear it and so I mean I think the the practical obstacle of the court case combined with the political

11:35obstacle of not wanting to wear it have conspired to create a situation where the premier has said many times by God we're going to get to the bottom of this and if we don't get to the bottom of this I'm going to know why and then he doesn't do anything and so there's this whole idea of the oh the public inquiry but now it feels like the calls for public inquiries on different topics are kind of stacking up here yeah they are and look I've covered some public inquiries over the years and while they can generate a fair amount of media coverage they're not really very useful we have a huge sort of public inquiry into why gasoline prices were so high here and whether they were gouging and we got a report back that said they're gouging and near as I can determine semi there's still gouging but anyway we had a public inquiry at NDP did that one and then there was money laundering and if you if you go over everything David E.B. said initially about why he wasn't going to order a public inquiry it was because these are

12:38his words everybody lawyers up they take forever they're expensive and they don't get anywhere and I he was right about all that in my view but he then ordered one anyway because the Horton government wanted a distraction and because if you go over everything E.B. in particular said the new democrats had a secret hope actually not really secret a hope that a public inquiry into money laundering would result in disgrace scandal maybe even criminal charges against some of the BC libres that didn't happen the money laundering inquiry mostly came back with recommendations of things that need to change at the federal level and of course Ottawa had the typical reaction to suggestions from provinces other than Ontario and Quebec which is who they held you think you are telling us what to do and they've done nothing so I am skeptical about public inquiries they

13:38are expensive they do take a long time everybody does lawyer up I think in the case of Tumblr Ridge the coroner's response is the right one and we should wait and see what the coroner's inquest does that can't go ahead to the police are done but we should wait and see what the coroner's inquest does before we decide there's anything else left to be answered worth a public inquiry all right Vaughan thank you very much for that thanks to me hello there Thursdays on global I'm Madeline Matlock she's the lawyer with a legendary name don't underestimate this Matlock this one is a shark you know it baby the one you can trust even if she has to bend the rules things aren't always as black and white as they seem to crack a case this is how I get things done any winning actress Kathy Bates is Matlock all new Thursdays at 90s turn on global stream on stack tv