Perhaps it just makes too much sense. I'm trying to come up with some kind of explanation as to why the provincial and federal governments refuse to come to the table with money to address the sediment build up in the secondary channels of the Fraser River.
It's painfully obvious this untenable situation, created by more than a decade of government neglect, will continue to worsen until one of those giant dredgers eventually shows up on the Ladner waterfront. Yet no one in senior government, or at least no one high enough up the food chain, seems in any kind of hurry to make that happen.
The case for dredging has been made articulately and repeatedly over the years by a number of individuals and organizations, most notably the Ladner Sediment Group, yet it doesn't seem to matter what tactic has been used, senior government has been able to look the other way.
Initial lobbying efforts focused on the physical and how an annoying situation has evolved into a dangerous one where boats are stuck at low tide and float homes are thrown off kilter.
Advocates then did the necessary homework to hand government a readymade dredging plan and more recently, Delta and Port Metro Vancouver each pledged $2 million toward putting that plan into practice. A report detailing the economic activity along the river has also been prepared.
Throw in the efforts of MLA Vicki Huntington, the Delta Chamber of Commerce and MP Kerry-Lynne Findlay, and it's clear everyone in these parts is on the same page. That's because the argument in favour of dredging is not partisan or self-serving, but simply the right thing to do for a town that's situated on the banks of a major river.
Yet somehow, in a logic-defying move, both levels of senior government remain silent. Speaking of illogical, given a dredging program was in place for a reason before the feds bailed on it, did they think if they stopped funding it that somehow the silt would magically stop accumulating?
None of this makes any sense and you wonder what more this community has to do or, heaven forbid, what has to happen in one of the secondary channels, before the powers that be finally comes to their senses.
The ironic part is we're only asking for a one-time contribution of a relatively paltry $4 million, a figure that would be split between Victoria and Ottawa, and then just a half-million annually. It's hard to believe senior governments can't dig that up.
