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VICTORIANEWS Friday, February 7, 2014
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Sewage delay swells costs: tax watchdog Inflation costs will continue to add up, CRD sewage chair says Daniel Palmer News staff
Don Denton/News staff
Michael Joss, sporting a Team Canada hockey jersey, pours a beer at The Podium Sports Grill on Yates Street. The bar owner says the 12-hour time difference in Sochi means business will be down from 2010.
Overnight Olympics Pubs lament 12-hour time difference from here to Sochi Kyle Wells News staff
It’s a mutual memory many Canadians share: a crowded bar, Team Canada jerseys everywhere, an overtime goal from superstar Sidney Crosby, the ensuing
celebration and joy. Sadly the experience will be much different during these Winter Olympics. Should the men’s hockey team and other Canadian Olympic hopefuls make it to gold medal matches, many of them will be competing in what will be the wee hours of the morning, due to the 12-hour time difference between Victoria and Sochi, Russia. Canadian staples such as the gold medal game for men’s curling, much of the figure skating finals
and, perhaps most concerning, the men’s hockey final, air live at 4 a.m. “The golden game, unfortunately we’re not going to be able to be open for,” said Michael Joss, owner of The Podium Sports Grill in Victoria. “Even if I was open and just serve juice and pop and food, (the B.C. Liquor Control and Licensing Branch is) not letting us do that unfortunately.”
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Many viewing options, Page A16
An independent analysis of the Capital Regional District’s sewage treatment project shows that delays will only cost taxpayers more money, says the CRD’s sewage committee chair. The CRD’s Seaterra project is already $50 million over budget – at $830 million – due to inflation and is set to rise further, according to a new report from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. But stakeholders say the report only makes a stronger case to move forward with construction as quickly as possible. “Seaterra has stressed very strongly that delay means greater costs,” said Geoff Young, chair of the CRD’s core area liquid waste management committee. “Postponing the project and having construction costs increase means the (onethird) fixed contribution of
the provincial government will be worth less and less the longer we wait.” Last year, an arms-length commission was established to oversee Seaterra and ensure the project stays within its $783-million budget. The Taxpayers Federation funded an independent analysis of Seaterra after Greater Victoria businesses expressed concern about the “nebulous” estimated costs of the project, said Jordan Bateman, the advocacy group’s B.C. director. The CRD’s estimated costs to homeowners are likely underestimated by hundreds of dollars during the project’s initial five-year building phase, he said. In the City of Victoria, the CRD estimates the average household will pay $353 annually towards the project by 2018.
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Sewage figures, Page A6
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