By Gary Jones

The Cruise Ship industry is a well established part of the summer season in Victoria. Its benefits are many and hopefully it will remain a part of the local summer economy. By the end of this season 3,500,000 cruise ship visitors will have injected a minimum of $70,000,000.00 into local coffers. Will this industry continue to expand? I believe so, because the ten year trend has shown a steady increase.

What then is the conundrum? Simply put, do we sacrifice the quality of life of many James Bay residents in exchange for a boost to the local economy? Some people may say the sacrifice is worth the benefits. Many local business people who risk their capital in pursuit of the cruise ship dollars may consider residents’ complaints as unfounded. They may say there are associated risks attached to living near the downtown core. What are these risks? They can be summed up in four phrases, significant traffic noise, traffic congestion, a variety of pollutants and late night activity, all in a residential area.

Can these impacts on local life be resolved? Yes, should be the answer, but only if four levels of government become involved. The first three are democratically elected institutions, City Council, the Provincial Government and the Federal Government. The fourth is an appointed authority, the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority. Can a local community association bring enough pressure on the four authorities to bring about a solution? Do these four levels of governance care enough to change a deteriorating situation? Does the money exist to create an alternative transportation system that local residents can accept? The first three levels claim green credentials yet they appear oblivious to the ongoing crisis in the lives of many James Bay residents. The GVHA is the agency responsible for the problem. It may not have initially realized the negative impact the bus component would have on the lives of local residents but the local community association does have a representative who attends their meetings and presumably has acquainted the GVHA with the local concerns.

The current bus route is the longest possible path from Ogden Point to the Inner Harbour. The buses are rarely full after the initial transfer from Ogden Point to the Inner Harbour. The buses are unsuitable for residential neighbourhoods. They are highway buses, extremely noisy and dominate residential streets as they thunder by until after 11 pm as they race back to Ogden Point with the last of the returning passengers. More ships are scheduled for this summer, carrying more passengers, which means more buses. The logistics of moving five thousand people on an evening when three ships are in dock makes it impossible to service passengers needs without a mass transit type system.

The real issue is whether we want to keep the cruise ship industry. Of course we do. The current expansion of the docks at Ogden Point is a clear sign of the optimism felt by the GVHA about the future of the industry but let us hope that a better power grid can be developed for the lower island to allow these huge ships to use shore power rather than on board engines while they are in dock. Ships the size of small towns do emit pollutants and we have the equivalent of 200+ small towns tying up at Ogden Point every summer so shore power is essential.

Our three levels of elected officials could put their heads together. We have an NDP mayor, the leader of the NDP Provincial Party is the Victoria MLA and lives in James Bay and we have an NDP Federal MP. Add to them the Greens on City Council and you have an influential lobby to pursue an alternative transportation system from the docks to downtown. Our Liberal Provincial Government claims to be the greenest political party in Canada.This might be the ideal time for them to lobby Ottawa for money for capital infrastructure and build an LRT or a Tramcar System (electric) that services the cruise ship needs. Finally, and this may get a reaction from the many James Bay residents who do not live on the periphery, let us give the periphery dwellers a rest this summer and send the buses along a much shorter route between Ogden Point and downtown. Consider Montreal to Superior to Menzies to Dallas. Tourists could walk from the corner of Superior and Menzies into the Inner Harbour. The area in front of the Empress would benefit from fewer buses and visitors would approach the city with a splendid view. In the meantime, let us hope that as the tourist industry expands (and it will) we will find a way to provide a modern, clean, and quiet transportation system that will appeal to both tourists and residents.

We need a flagship transportation system now. Look to the future for our means of moving people, not to the past.