THURSDAYJULY 17, 2014
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WATER SYSTEM FUNDING KERFUFFLE
MP Lunney fires back Federal rep says Parksville’s mayor is resorting to amateur tactics JOHN HARDING editor@pqbnews.com
With the blame game continuing between levels of government and a deadline looming, Parksville taxpayers still don’t know how much the city will need to borrow to build a $37 million water treatment plant. Nanaimo-Alberni MP James Lunney fired back this week at comments made recently by Mayor Chris Burger. The Conservative MP said the city and the province are to blame for delays in accessing federal infrastructure funding. “The screw up has not come from the federal government,” Lunney said in an interview this week (The MP also penned a letter to the editor which appears on page 11 of today edition of The NEWS.) “They (the City of Parksville) have had six years to apply for the funds — it (the water treatment plant) would have been half built by now.” A seven-year federal-provincial agreeTalking about the old ment on infrastructure funding expired last program is a waste of time year. It was renewed this year, but Ottawa and Victoria didn’t sign a deal until May. In MP JAMES LUNNEY the past, during that seven-year program, applications for funding were available for municipalities in March. The city says those application forms, which are administered through the provincial government, still aren’t available. “That’s a red herring,” said Lunney. “Yes, there’s a gap in there, but they (the city) have had lots of time. Talking about the old program is a waste of time. It (applying for funds) has to go through the provincial route. That’s where the hold-up is, at the province.” Jason Vanstone doesn’t agree. The reeve of Miami, Manitoba has been trying to get federal infrastructure money for a new, $2.5 million library/municipal office. Miami and area is in southwest Manitoba and is primarily a farming community of about 1,700 people. Vanstone has relatives in Parksville and was asked to call The NEWS about this story by his colleague Burger. “The level of frustration is beyond comprehension,” said Vanstone. “I’m a good Conservative but they have dropped the ball here.” See STILL NO APPLICATION PROCESS, page A7
JOHN HARDING PHOTO
BEACHED SKATE: Anita Pinchette was having her morning coffee Wednesday on the beach in front of her home on Surfside Drive in Qualicum Beach when she saw this skate washing up on the shore. The animal measured, including the length of the tail, six feet long and four feet across. “I’ve fished all my life here and I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Anita’s husband Dennis Lowry. Brian Kingzett, the manager of VIU’s Deep Bay Marine Field Station, said it’s likely a big skate (raja binoculata), which are not unusual in the deep waters of the Georgia Strait but also not often seen by people.
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