We finally won one.
It seems like this community is always in some sort of battle with senior government, often times fighting the machine on multiple fronts at the same time. From mere differences of opinion to all-out protests, there's a commonality to these struggles, including the part where the end result isn't necessarily in keeping with the community's wishes.
From power lines and port expansion to the hospital and a new highway, we have become accustomed to events playing out in a certain way, so the issue of dredging the secondary channels of the Fraser River had all the earmarks of another head-banging experience.
Since Ottawa had off-loaded the responsibility for dredging more than a decade ago, the silt build-up in the channels around Ladner had slowly but surely crossed the line from inconvenience to dangerous.
All the community, led by the Ladner Sediment Group, wanted was for one of those giant dredgers to be brought in to remedy the situation. The request made abundant sense, so much so it was difficult to argue to the contrary, but that didn't stop both Victoria and Ottawa from doing their best to ignore the plight of those along the river.
It's one thing to disagree over the alignment of a highway or what route power lines should follow, but in this case it wasn't like there was another option, beyond simply not doing anything at all, which seemed like an absurd alternative given circumstances on the river were only going to get worse the longer the work was put off.
Despite that undeniable certainty, one year stretched into the next without any movement from senior government. Port Metro Vancouver put up some money, as did Delta, but that still didn't prompt those in Victoria or Ottawa to act.
To their credit, the local contingent didn't give up the fight. The Ladner Sediment Group got support from MLA Vicki Huntington, MP Kerry-Lynne Findlay, the Delta Chamber of Commerce and those over at municipal hall as it hammered home the folly of not undertaking the dredging. It shouldn't have been surprising given the strength of their argument, but with history firmly on the other side I was almost in disbelief when all levels of government got together last month to announce $10 million had been earmarked for dredging.
It made sense, there was no doubt about that, but a victory in any dealings with government tends to catch you off guard because they simply don't happen too often.
