Liability issues are holding back good projects up and down the Coast. In Tuwanek, the Sechelt Gray Forest Service leading to Tetrahedron Provincial Park has become a four-year headache for the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD). While costs of maintaining the road to provide winter access to the mountaintop park are disputed, a larger stumbling block is over who will accept the liability for the road - that is, who will answer when someone crashes their SUV and blames it on bad road maintenance. Right now, it seems like the regional district, the ministries of forest and range and environment, and to a lesser extent, not-for-profit groups are waiting to see who'll blink first. But so far no one is willing to assume the risk of running the road. Meanwhile, most Coast residents lose out on the fascinating experience of the Tetrahedron in winter.
But it's summer that's been a problem at Gospel Rock in Gibsons. The hot dry weather has property owners worried about the potential of a forest fire, and steep cliffs could mean drunken partiers taking deadly falls. Either scenario could result in legal nightmares, so the response has been to reduce liability, by way of a fence surrounding about half the 56-hectare site. It's a losing proposition for everybody: the public loses access to the private property, and the owners have to shell out to pay for the fence.
Then there's Elphinstone Secondary School, which could have been the site of a huge community garden. But liability concerns involving strangers on school grounds and potential damage to greenhouses formed part of School District 46's rationale in looking at other ideas for their School Community Connections program. What is it that instills this knee-jerk reaction amongst our elected representatives? Does the subconscious fear imposed by civil litigation horror stories mean we have to avoid building community? Is government afraid of facing the heat from taxpayers when things go wrong? Restricted by the Local Government Act or Community Charter? I don't know, but it's something I'm trying to figure out.
Of course, it's a problem that's bigger than any local government. It's something to do with our general sense of entitlement as a culture, the mentality that shuns the concept of personal responsibility at all costs. People trying to "get their share," aided and abetted by legal vultures.
So now it sometimes seems the primary role of government is to minimize their own liability: learn to shoot down good ideas in 10 seconds flat, drag knuckles, or otherwise find ways to not to make projects happen. Always defer to committees. Receive staff reports full of well-researched facts, but devoid of definitive action. The way it's going, we'll soon see one entitled Preliminary Draft Proposal for Potential Plan, Maybe.
Our provincial government seems to have figured out how to keep their hands clean, at least on paper: just privatize a broad spectrum of public services. Sure, highways might be dangerous, but as long as it's someone else maintaining them, no one can blame the government for the crashes that occur. It's no wonder public confidence in the political process is low. Too many good projects and needed changes are hamstrung around "what-ifs". It's time municipalities focus on what is, and take some chances in moving ahead. You can't be neutral on a moving train.
