Lining up the financing before checking with the public

Metro Vancouver is so secretive about its intentions that even its own staff are in the dark. A Metro employee was surprised to hear me claim this week that the Board had approved borrowing authority for a quarter-billion dollars to build waste-to-energy projects.

I checked my sources and found the February 1 report with the Commissioner's recommendation to authorize $250 million in borrowing for waste-to-energy, listed as one of the "major planned GVS&DD capital expenditures" (emphasis added) in Appendix 1.

So: the borrowing is approved, an RFP has been issued. What's next? Oh, yes, check in with the public... or maybe that's not necessary. Another Metro employee once reassured me that once an incinerator is in place the public gets used to it. Maybe they figure if they work fast we won't notice?