VICTORIA — If you’re riding the MV Coho from Port Angeles through Inner Harbour this evening, Canada Day, don’t be surprised to see something floating in the water.
Unhappy with the recent stalemate in building an Ottawa-required sewage treatment plant to replace two 39-inch outfalls spitting raw effluent from Victoria and environs into the Strait of Juan de Fuca 24/7, Mr. Floatie has returned to popularize the cause.
Floatie, of course, is the 6-foot costumed stool that has off-and-on stimulated lower Vancouver Island governments to providing sewage treatment — something Port Angeles, Port Townsend and Sequim, as well as other American towns along the Strait, have done for decades.
In addition to numerous personal appearances in Victoria during the past decade, Floatie also has been a visitor to the Port Angeles City Council.
Now for Canada Day, Floatie will be floating on a boat — tidy or otherwise — in Inner Harbour to try to make his point again.
Here’s Mr. Floatie’s official news release sent to Canadian Press and relayed to the Peninsula Daily News:
V.S.T.A.
Victoria Sewage Treatment Alliance proudly presents…
Mr. Floatie Celebrates Canada Day!
On Tuesday, July 1st, from approximately 3:30pm to 4:30pm, Mr. Floatie and his entourage will be hanging out at Victoria’s inner harbour. Then at approximately 6:30pm, Mr. Floatie and gang will be on the poop deck of the fishing vessel, Corrigan Queen. Stay tuned for Mr. Floatie’s musical interlude!
Our goal is to raise awareness that $500 million of government funding are soon to be flushed down the toilet with Mr. Floatie unless Victoria gets off the pot and builds Mr. Floatie a home! It’s also the perfect day to remind Victorians that Canadian national sewage treatment regulations come into effect January 1, 2015.
Mr. Floatie is actually James Skwarok, V.S.T.A. “movement coordinator” who is a teacher in real life.
According to seattlepi.com, Skwarok would like to meet Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, who recently wrote a scathing letter to his British Columbia counterpart, Premier Christy Clark, urging sewage treatment as soon as possible.
To date, Clark has not replied to Inslee.
