Connecting the Saanich Peninsula and Cowichan Valley by passenger ferry

There have long been discussions about better connecting the Capital Region and Cowichan Valley Regional District by building a bridge across the Saanich Inlet.

There is no doubt that we need better connectivity on Southern Vancouver Island but a bridge is not the solution.

Not only will it cost billions of dollars to build the bridge but it will dump thousands of more vehicles on the Pat Bay highway increasing emissions and congestion and also requiring costly upgrades to Beacon, Mt. Newton, Keating, Sayward and Haliburton before bottlenecking at Uptown.

There is another solution. There is an ongoing discussion about increasing connectivity with a passenger ferry service and even vehicle ferry service between Cowichan Bay, Pat Bay and Swartz Bay.

Aligned with much better transit services on the Saanich Peninsula and the Cowichan Valley these services are important for the Keating and Sidney/North Saanich business districts, the Victoria Airport and the rest of Greater Victoria.

I asked Hon. Claire Travena, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure about the potential of providing certainty and support to investigate these opportunities.

[Transcript]

PASSENGER FERRY SERVICE
PROPOSAL FOR SAANICH INLET

Adam Olsen:

Recently, the hon. Premier was in the local media speculating on an idea to connect the Saanich Peninsula and the Cowichan Valley by a bridge. This idea has come up every decade or so, usually after an incident turns increasing congestion on the Malahat into gridlock. A shiny bridge with architectural splendour makes for grand politics, but it’s not the best solution. It will be a giant black hole in our budget, increase greenhouse gas emissions and cars on the road and require expensive upgrades to Beacon, Mt. Newton, Keating, Sayward, Haliburton and Uptown.

To the Minister of Transportation. There are ongoing discussions about a passenger ferry service across the Saanich Inlet. If the provincial government was part of the dialogue, it would provide certainty to potential service providers and commuters that a passenger ferry service is supported and will be around now and in the future. Will you work with me and the various stakeholders already at the table to investigate ferry services across the Saanich Inlet?

Hon. C. Trevena:

I appreciate the question from the member of the Third Party. He’s right: every time there’s a crisis, we’re starting to look at different solutions. We are looking, again, at the report that came in 2007 and the potential of a bridge. We are looking at other avenues to deal with what is clearly a problem for people on the south Island, people who are travelling across the Malahat.

It is an area where we have issues of safety, where we’re dealing with that. But, also it does narrow up through a provincial park. So we’re looking at all different avenues to try and make sure that access to the capital regional district can be kept open, and I would be happy to sit down with the member to talk about ideas that he and others have.

Mr. Speaker:

Saanich North and the Islands on a supplemental.

Adam Olsen:

We’ve long needed better transit on the Saanich Peninsula and in the Cowichan Valley. Yesterday, in response to a question from my colleague from the Cowichan Valley, the Minister of Transportation referred to the government’s transportation vision. We’ve had reports, studies and visions drafted, shelved and collecting dust on how to improve the transportation system on south Vancouver Island. There is a strong economic case for a passenger and complimentary vehicle ferry service between Cowichan Bay, Pat Bay and Swartz Bay. There’s a social and economic and environmental case for a rapid bus system on the Pat Bay Highway, serviced by better neighbourhood transit services.

To the Minister of Transportation, we don’t need a big, shiny, new bridge. What we need is a flexible, cost-effective, reliable service today and for the long term so people can invest and we can improve the quality of life on south Vancouver Island. When will you join the stakeholders at the table to seriously discuss a passenger ferry service on the Saanich Inlet?

Hon. C. Trevena:

To the member, I think that we’ve sat down and talked with the member about visions for transit and transportation on the south Island, the Saanich Peninsula, right across out to Sooke. We were also talking about going up to the Cowichan Valley. We have a record investment in B.C. Transit. Our government is ensuring that people can afford to travel and can afford to travel easily. Obviously, there are problems with delays when there are accidents and so on.\

I agree with the member. We do need to have a vision, and I’m happy, as I said before in answer to his previous question, to sit down and talk about different ideas to ensure that we can get people moving safely and effectively across the south Island.

 

View all my posts from my work in Question Period.