When Black Ball introduced its new ferry, MV Bainbridge, in 1952, it promised “service so continuous as to be almost a bridge across Howe Sound.”
The ferries have never lived up to that boast, and now we’re having a serious conversation about whether it’s time for a literal bridge.
Ever since the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure announced a feasibility study on fixed link options, Liberal MLA Jordan Sturdy (West Vancouver-Sea to Sky) has rarely passed up a chance to talk about hearing family from the Coast discuss the bridge idea when he was a kid.
I’m about the same age as Sturdy, with similar family connections to the Sunshine Coast, and I also remember fixed link schemes being a recurring topic around the dinner table. And I’m willing to bet Sturdy, like me, has heard all the arguments, for and against, several times over in the intervening years. They haven’t changed, and we’re not likely to hear anything new this time.
Canada’s greatest fixed link debate, the plebiscite on the Confederation Bridge between P.E.I. and New Brunswick, came down to what opponents saw as preserving a way of life and supporters saw as opening up the Island to new economic opportunities. Cost and other issues were really just asides.
(Fun fact: The Confederation Bridge cost about $1 billion to build, or $1.5 billion in today’s money, according to the Bank of Canada. Not far off the very rough estimate being given for a pair of bridges linking us to the Sea to Sky Highway via Anvil Island.)
Closer to home, talk of a fixed link between Gabriola and Vancouver islands came down to that same basic argument.
The Gabriola Bridge Society petitioned the government to fund a study, which was released in January. The report found the idea practical, and pegged the cost at between 258 and 520 million dollars, but it also noted “a fixed link is expected to result in significant population growth, more services, and more tourism. Island identity is likely to be fundamentally altered by the provision of a fixed link.”
The Sunshine Coast feasibility study has similar origins, with the province spurred on by organized, connected, and vocal pro-link thinkers, including the Third Crossing Society, Sunshine Coast Tolled Fixed Link, and former SCRD economic development officer Oddvin Vedoe, who started a blog to push for a crossing in early 2014.
But I don’t think the question is whether a fixed link is technically, or financially, feasible. Of course it is (at least at the Howe Sound end). The question the government is looking to answer is whether it’s politically feasible.
And the way they’re phrasing the question makes me think they might already be, to steal one of Premier Clark’s bon mots, “getting to yes.”
This is from the MOTI feedback form:
“With lower growth and economic development as compared with other regions in the province, despite the area’s proximity to the Lower Mainland, and recognizing the recent historical trend of an aging population base, various Sunshine Coast community leaders and stakeholders are increasingly advocating for a cost-effective fixed link connection to the Lower Mainland. The intent is that the connection would improve access and reliability for businesses, residents and visitors, provide improved access to emergency services and foster sustainable growth and economic development for the Sunshine Coast while strengthening the region’s attractiveness as a recreational and vacation tourism destination and generating added provincial economic benefits…. Having reviewed the Problem Definition Statement above, what comments, if any, do you have?”
I’ve seen enough leading questions in my career to be able to spot one in the wild.
