3458 replies to this topic

[Victoria Watcher]

Plans to connect visiting cruise ships to shore power at Victoria’s Ogden Point have been shelved after costs soared beyond what local and federal funding could cover, the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority (GVHA) says.

 

The GVHA says that despite receiving $31.5 million in combined funding from Transport Canada and the B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, the latest cost estimates show the project is no longer financially feasible.

 

According to GVHA Chair Mark Mawhinney, the latest estimated proposal for providing shore power has ballooned to nearly $100 million on the low end, four times the original project estimate.

 

Plans to connect visiting cruise ships to shore power at Victoria’s Ogden Point have been shelved after costs soared beyond what local and federal funding could cover, the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority (GVHA) says.

 

The GVHA says that despite receiving $31.5 million in combined funding from Transport Canada and the B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, the latest cost estimates show the project is no longer financially feasible.

 

According to GVHA Chair Mark Mawhinney, the latest estimated proposal for providing shore power has ballooned to nearly $100 million on the low end, four times the original project estimate.

 

https://cheknews.ca/...-issue-1285803/

 

 

 

4x.   Doubt inflation is running at 200%.  Somebody maybe just did a bad job at the original estimate.

 

A single cruise ship is like 2000 tiny apartments.   Or three in at one time would be 6000.  

 

What does our OCP anticipate for new homes in Victoria?

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 26 October 2025 - 11:08 PM.

[catfluff]

Yay! We can both have opinions! 
 

You sure seem fun!

 

Your link is to a biased holiday industry rag and website, as opposed to any sort of legitimate news source. 

Cruise ships stop here because they have to stop here. 

 

Inconvenient location, lack of ship services, and 4 hours at dock doesn't make for Victoria as the #1 cruise destination in North America I'm afraid. 

Granted - there's a certain overwhelming desire to believe that Victoria has got to be #1 at something, and if it's as a #1 North American cruise destination (and reading that makes you feel good) - then #1 cruise destination it is!

[Mike K.]

Heaven only knows why we have failed at turning Ogden Point into an anything beyond a parking lot. Imagine arriving as a tourist at a major stop, to be met with Ogden Point, then told that anything of retail or commercial significance is a 30 minute walk away for able bodied people.

We have only had 30 years to figure something out.

[Sparky]

^ ...and I am sure the neighbours are ticked off about the abandonment of the shore power project especially after hearing that some big money funding was there for the taking. 

 

Apparently the stink from the idling ships was a bit overbearing if the onshore breeze was just right.

Surely there could have been a funding model that would have worked if the ships kicked in some dough in order to plug in their boat....especially if it was a mandatory no idle zone.

[Victoria Watcher]

Heaven only knows why we have failed at turning Ogden Point into an anything beyond a parking lot. Imagine arriving as a tourist at a major stop, to be met with Ogden Point, then told that anything of retail or commercial significance is a 30 minute walk away for able bodied people.

We have only had 30 years to figure something out.

 

Especially federal land, where they essentially don't even have to ask the City for permission.

[Mike K.]

^ ...and I am sure the neighbours are ticked off about the abandonment of the shore power project especially after hearing that some big money funding was there for the taking.

Apparently the stink from the idling ships was a bit overbearing if the onshore breeze was just right.
Surely there could have been a funding model that would have worked if the ships kicked in some dough in order to plug in their boat....especially if it was a mandatory no idle zone.

The ships that could be plugged in, would be required to, absolutely, and they’d be paying for the privilege.

My worry is that somewhere up top, someone has said wait, and see how the PVSA shakes out. If the Americans grant -themselves- leniency for Alaskan cruises, the industry in Victoria will collapse overnight.

If we so much as ever hear of a cruise ship passenger smuggling an ounce of drugs into the US via Ogden Point, that might be the perfect excuse for the Trump Admin.

[Mike K.]

Especially federal land, where they essentially don't even have to ask the City for permission.

True.

Now the cynic in my believes there is also a reason for the lack of investment, which could be associated to the PVSA’s future as it currently stands, being in doubt.

[Bambam]

Whatever happened to that Stantec plan to redevelop those lands - concentrating marine-related businesses on that land, at least upgrading if not redeveloping the "cruise" terminal so that it looks like an actual terminal for cruise passengers rather than a pedestrian warehouse, and as I recall in the original document potentially building a waterfront hotel on the site? 

[Victoria Watcher]

Whatever happened to that Stantec plan to redevelop those lands - concentrating marine-related businesses on that land, at least upgrading if not redeveloping the "cruise" terminal so that it looks like an actual terminal for cruise passengers rather than a pedestrian warehouse, and as I recall in the original document potentially building a waterfront hotel on the site? 

 

Over 9 years ago:

 

 

 

Acres of Ogden Point parking lot could become one of Victoria’s largest development projects, featuring a hotel, stores, cruise-ship and other marine services, parks, walkways, and maybe even a home for the Maritime Museum of B.C.

 

Next week, the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority will unveil some of its ideas for what Ogden Point could look like in 30 years. The authority is looking for input on how the site, which now serves as a cruise-ship terminal, should evolve.

 

https://www.timescol...n-point-4632131

 

 

 

 

 

The Greater Victoria Harbour Authority (GVHA) submitted a request to the City of Victoria Mayor & Council for an extension to the process for the Master Plan for The Breakwater District at Ogden Point.

 

The request included an extension to the Memorandum of Understanding between GVHA and the City of Victoria to Dec. 31, 2025. This extension will allow GVHA to further develop an overall ‘development narrative’ consistent with the James Bay Neighbourhood Plan (once developed) and pursue appropriate master plan development opportunities that are consistent with GVHA’s 10-Year Strategic Plan.

 

Within this request for extension, GVHA outlines the need to shift resources away from the development of the Master Plan for The Breakwater District due to investments in environmental priorities.

 

https://gvha.ca/abou...point-planning/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 29 October 2025 - 07:12 AM.

[Mike K.]

Ie, shore power.

[Victoria Watcher]

‘Massive’ floating barge at Ogden Point to lift Esquimalt-based warship for repairs

 

https://cheknews.ca/...epairs-1289442/

[Victoria Watcher]

Greater Victoria Harbour Authority launches search for new leader

The GVHA is seeking a new permanent chief executive officer to fill the role previously held by Robert Lewis-Manning.

 

https://www.timescol...leader-11643822

 

 

 

 

 

 

News is coming later today that the former CEO is suing for wrongful dismissal.  I don't know, seems like some of these jobs are patronage appointments. 

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 21 December 2025 - 04:00 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

News is coming later today that the former CEO is suing for wrongful dismissal.  I don't know, seems like some of these jobs are patronage appointments. 

 

 

 

 

https://www.pressrea...281509347533378

 

 

I have a good idea.  Don't **** people you work with.  It's easy to find other willing partners.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 21 December 2025 - 02:46 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

In his statement of claim, the former chief executive said the Harbour Authority “grossly exceeded its authority” when it demanded he answer questions concerning his private life and romantic relationship.

He said the “bogus allegations” put the private lives of its employees and their families on display in a way that publicly humiliated all involved and needlessly caused strife.

Lewis-Manning said the public termination caused him embarrassment, mental distress and damaged his professional reputation.

He also denies there was any reason for it.

In his statement of claim, Lewis-Manning said the relationship he was in was with a woman who had been separated from her husband for four years. He stated in the court documents that the husband was not an employee of the GVHA when the relationship started in 2023.

Lewis-Manning further claims the GVHA found evidence of the relationship by entering his office and going through his personal and private documents without consent.

In the statement of claim, Lewis-Manning said the Harbour Authority’s “conduct constituted a serious invasion of privacy” and that its questioning of his private life “grossly exceeded” its authority.




https://www.timescol...missal-11653882

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 22 December 2025 - 05:29 AM.

[Mike K.]

Well, that changes the scenario quite drastically.

[Matt R.]

I hope he spends his winnings wisely.

[Victoria Watcher]

The response to Lewis-Manning’s civil claim says the former chief executive ­violated the Harbour Authority’s code of conduct when he engaged in a secret romantic relationship with the wife of a subordinate employee and was dishonest about it when confronted by the board of directors.

 

[...]

 

In his statement of claim, Lewis-Manning said the relationship he was in was with a woman who had been separated from her husband for four years. He stated in the court documents that the husband was not an employee of the GVHA when the relationship started in 2023.

 

[...]

 

The Harbour Authority noted the investigation found Lewis-Manning had suggested the husband of his romantic interest should apply for a job with the GVHA and that Lewis-Manning had determined his relationship with the man’s wife created no conflict of interest. The investigation found the husband did not know of his wife’s relationship with the Harbour Authority chief executive at the time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is that all just odd?

 

CEO starts having a relationship with this woman in 2023.  Then he tells her or him (her husband), or both that the husband should apply for a job.  And presumably he gets that job, and all the while, this new employee does not know his boss is in a relationship with his wife.

 

Google suggests the CEO was (is?) married to a local professional too.  Who has now made her Instagram private.  

 

  

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 22 December 2025 - 09:03 PM.

[Matt R.]

Sounds like a very interesting work environment.

[Victoria Watcher]

Is that all just odd?

 

CEO starts having a relationship with this woman in 2023.  Then he tells her or him (her husband), or both that the husband should apply for a job.  And presumably he gets that job, and all the while, this new employee does not know his boss is in a relationship with his wife.

 

Google suggests the CEO was (is?) married to a local professional too.  Who has now made her Instagram private.  

 

  

 

 

In court filings, Lewis-Mannig argues that he was told of the allegations against him on July 29, 2025, that he was “engaged in an inappropriate extra-marital affair with the spouse of another GVHA employee. This accusation was false.”

 

He says he is in a relationship with an ex-spouse of a GVHA employee, and that she had been separated from her husband since 2019. Their relationship began in 2023.

 

GVHA says the claims that the employee and his wife were separated is “false or immaterial. They were married, lived together, and were raising a child together. The employee did not say in his complaint that he was separated from his wife.”

 

Lewis-Manning says he did not publicize his relationship at work out of respect for the family.

 

The relationship with the wife also started before the employee started working at GVHA.

 

In GVHA’s response, the company said Lewis-Manning admitted that he had suggested to the wife that her husband apply to work at the company.

 

“He further admitted that he checked the Code of Conduct when the employee was being hired,” the response from GVHA said.

 

“He judged on his own that his personal relationship with the wife, unknown to the employee or the Harbour Authority, in no way created a conflict of interest.”

 

Lewis-Manning said GVHA got information about the relationship by entering his office, looking through his desk and reviewing personal documents, “including photographs and love letters.”

 

“GVHA’s conduct constituted a serious invasion of privacy,” Lewis-Manning’s filing said. “Mr. Lewis-Manning had a reasonable expectation of privacy over his office and personal effects. It ought to have been obvious to GVHA that the documents were private and sensitive in nature.”

 

GVHA counters this claim, saying the documents and evidence were provided by the complainant employee.

 

“If, as alleged in paragraph 15, Mr. Lewis-Manning kept romantic documents to an employee’s wife on his work desk, then this is a breach of his employment duties.”

 

Lewis-Manning also says that he was ready to fully cooperate with the investigation while he was on administrative leave, but wanted to know the scope first “to ensure an appropriate balance of his privacy and employment rights with the employer’s desire for further information.”

 

 

https://cheknews.ca/...s-wife-1296894/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 30 December 2025 - 01:44 AM.