On the surface it appears as if Regina's great waste water treatment plant debate bears no relevance to anything that is going on in the rest of the province.
Anybody who has given even a casual nod to news in the past six months realizes that the debate in Regina is focused on two camps. The argument being waged pits the private versus public teams against each other.
It has become very clear that even though a referendum has been called to allow citizens to vote on whether Regina should pursue a P3 contractor or build the waste water plant using public funding and operations, their council prefers the P3 model.
The arguments for both sides are genuine and both teams are making excellent points to defend their stances. What it boils down to, it seems, is the fact that $58 million in federal funding will only be made available to the Regina project if they use the P3 model. The feds check in with money if the project ends up in the hands of a private contractor to build, maintain and operate with the understanding that the City of Regina still owns the facility and overall direction. For some reason, if Regina's citizens determine the project should be built using the traditional model, the federal government won't be writing any cheques.
We don't know why that is, but it is a compelling feature that definitely favours the P3 model.
Where Estevan, and for that matter, all other Saskatchewan cities, come into play on this subject is the fact that if the federal government is going to play fast and loose with our taxpayer funds, what might we expect with our next major infrastructure idea?
Estevan is just putting the finishing touches to our own major expansion of water storage and treatment facilities and we don't think we were graced with any federal funding assistance, no matter what process we used.
Let us keep in mind that $58 million injected into the Queen City is $58 million that won't be going anywhere else in the province as part of any equalization payment or infrastructure formula.
So in an indirect way, you might say we are contributing to the Regina waste water treatment project, whether we agree with it or not. At least we'll be contributing to it if they vote to pursue the P3 model in September.
If Regina gets those federal funds, it means we don't.
Now Regina's project is a worthy one, no doubt about it. It is needed. But we believe it is still a Regina project, not a provincial or federal project.
We can see where federal money can be legitimately used and defended when it comes to building roads, bridges, airports, health facilities and yep, even event centres and power plants with clean coal technology that serve a wide range of populations.
But waste water treatment plants for individual cities using tilted playing fields?
Is there a different set of rules for larger cities versus smaller cities when it comes to questions of unequal treatment?
What kind of precedent is being set?
We have to question the dictating of the process that has to be followed to gain federal funds, but then, only after shading the rules to allow it to happen.
We're not sure either of these pass the smell test. But if this is a precedent being set here let's hold our collective noses and get in line.
