95 replies to this topic

[Number Six]

"Does it makes sense to continue having the capital in Victoria, given rising ferry rates and the fact that Vancouver is BC's power and financial capital?"

Gordo, or any other MLA for that matter, riding a B.C. Ferry? I'm thinking Helijet or Harbour Air.

[Mike K.]

^no kidding.

Most public sector employees take float planes when attending events in Vancouver.

[aastra]

I never thought about that. So they think the capital should be moved not because rising fuel prices have made travel expensive, but rather because the expensive fuel might be used to travel to & from the capital via ship instead of via aircraft?

The Globe and Mail has something against ships now?

[aastra]

It's a good thing nothing's really happening in the world right now to distract them from their fluff pieces.

[Ms. B. Havin]

It's a good thing nothing's really happening in the world right now to distract them from their fluff pieces.

^ No. Kidding.

Sheesh.

By the way, add Albany, NY to that list.

[Mike K.]

It's a series with one question asked per week throughout the month of August. The Aug 29th question is the last of the series.

This week's question has to do with offshore drilling.

And add Tallahassee, Florida, to the list.

[aastra]

So if offshore drilling happens in a big way, would it make sense to move the capital to Skidegate?

[gumgum]

If Victoria is axed as the capital, I vote we turn the Legislature into the coolest nightclub on the planet!

-----You're on the edge when you're at the Ledge-----

[G-Man]

Quebec City, Quebec; Carson City, Nevada and Salem, Oregon

[aastra]

No ferries in any of those places. Totally different.

[UrbanRail]

I think the chances of making Vancouver the capital instead of Victoria are slim at best. Thousands of jobs would be lost in Victoria if this happened. Besides if rising fuel prices are the main reason, then why doesnt the government encourage people on the Mainland to use email more often? Why should we on the island lose our capital to the mainland?

Actually the question that the Globe and Mail should be asking is, should Vancouver Island become a separate province.

[mat]

^no kidding.

Most public sector employees take float planes when attending events in Vancouver.

My understanding is the province made a deal with HeliJet for Vic/Van travel, then realized the added cost of taxis to the pad, plus the fact the Helicopters do 3 times carbon output vs sea planes nixed it.

[Bernard]

If one were to change the capital, I would move it to Kamloops and not Vancouver. Though I believe that BC would best served being divided into four provinces - Vancouver Island, Lower Mainland/Fraser Valley, Southern Interior, and Northern Interior. This woudl better reflect how the politics and economy work in each region. It would also add 18 more Senators from BC to Ottawa and would raise the number of MPs to 50 to 55 from BC.....

[Mike K.]

Why do so many Victorians who have moved to other cities feel this incessant need to belittle their home town and turn to myths and misconceptions to get a point across? Ironically the author of this article, Tristin Hopper, once wrote a couple of articles (one and two) for VV back when he was happily (or un-happily, maybe?) living in Victoria.

I must say that the article reads like something by a disenfranchised young adult who moved out of Victoria, for one reason or another, with a hate-on for the place and sees this piece as an opportunity to flip the finger to his home town. I mean, why, why the need for such a one-sided, poorly researched and opinionated article that so passionately misrepresents reality (even in the title)?

But I tell you what. If Vancouver really wants the capital and British Columbians on the mainland support the move, let them have it. Victoria can become the capital of the province of Vancouver Island.

‘They’re so out of touch’: British Columbians yearn to move isolated island capital to Vancouver
By Tristin Hopper, National Post
http://news.national...l-to-vancouver/

When the Big One finally hits coastal B.C., while Vancouver’s earthquake-proof skyline and the region’s many wood homes will come out largely unscathed, the province’s iconic Parliament Buildings will most likely topple.

Alexandra Stephanson for National PostVictoria was not the first choice of capital for the colonial founders of British Columbia.

That’s at least according to Zeidler Partnership Architects, the firm hired by the province in 2005 to find out how the Richter would treat their legislative home. The firm did not mince words: Parliament will be rubble, ministers will be dead and a stunned populace would be left to “more easily turn to civil disorder.”

The only solution, concluded Zeidler Partnership, is a $250-million upgrade to the copper-domed structure. At that price, making sure the building does not fall over could well cost as much as it took to put it up in the first place.

It is why, better yet, the province could do what British Columbians have yearned to do for more than a century: Pull up the stakes of their geriatric, island capital and ship it across the water to Vancouver.

After all, of all Canada’s 14 capital cities, Victoria is easily the most isolated and dissimilar to the province it is tasked to govern. [Read more]

[G-Man]

Wow, really? Victoria and Vancouver Island are much closer aligned with the "rest of the province" than Vancouver is. The issue is that Vancouver sees itself as "the rest of the province".

Anyways this discussion has been going on for 142 years so I don't expect it to be resolved today.

[VicHockeyFan]

43 comments on my FB page, people no like this article.

[HB]

But I tell you what. If Vancouver really wants the capital and British Columbians on the mainland support the move, let them have it. Victoria can become the capital of the province of Vancouver Island.

I have secretly wished this for a long time. If I was around when they voted for Vancouver Island to join British Columbia I would have been a very strong advocate for Vancouver Island to remain its own colony like it was.

[Mike K.]

Mr. Hopper also forgets to mention that despite Victoria sending a more formidable representative to push for Victoria as capital over New West (at a time when Granville was barely an outpost), a stipulation made by the Colony of Vancouver Island was to get the capital city if it agreed to merge with the province of BC.

And there is also the issue with southern VI protruding far below the 49th parallel at a time when borders were being redrawn. There was the concern that Americans could make a move and claim the south Island, so establishing a capital on the very southern tip was also an issue of international positioning. But of course, we lack as fast a growing Asian population and therefore no longer deserve to be capital city, that and the premier feels there are no real people here.

It's articles like this one that serve to Balkanize our residents. Just look at the nonsense from all over the province that's been written in the comments section of the article.

[Rob Randall]

Recalling the cost of building Vancouver's convention centre I'm wondering what the cost would be to build a new Vancouver legislative buildings, along with all the associated infrastructure. I suppose the final cost would dwarf the cost of merely seismically securing the current Leg.

[Mike K.]

Some will begrudge upgrading one of the most beautiful and iconic legislative buildings in the world for $250-million, but tax payers footed the bill for a $500-million stadium upgrade in Vancouver.

After all, of all Canada’s 14 capital cities, Victoria is easily the most isolated and dissimilar to the province it is tasked to govern.

I'm looking at a map of the country right now and quite honestly the only capitals that are positioned more-or-less in an equitable location from all corners of their respective province are Edmonton and Halifax. The eastern provinces have capitals within easy reach from all corners (other than NFLD) as well, but that's due to their small size rather than location of the capital. The rest of our country has capitals that are laid out in a row not far from the US border. This "Victoria is most isolated" comment is silly.

Councillor Lisa Helps suggests that it's not Victoria that governs, it's the politicians spending time in their constituencies that matters:

“I don’t necessarily think that the seat of government means that MLAs need to spend time here, they need to spend time in their constituencies,” said Ms. Helps.