In a September 28, 2025, opinion piece in the North Shore Daily Post, District of North Vancouver Councillor Catherine Pope provided her thoughts on Metro Vancouver’s transparency and accountability regarding the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant Program. I would like to clarify the facts about this critically important project.
Councillor Pope’s claims about the project’s cost and communication are misleading. To be clear — Metro Vancouver has not spent billions of dollars on the project since terminating its former contractor. The $3.86 billion cost estimate announced in 2024 is not a cost overrun, nor is it money already spent.
It is the updated estimate of what it will take to complete the entire program by 2030 — including construction of the new treatment plant, related sewer infrastructure, and preliminary design work for decommissioning the aging Lions Gate Wastewater Treatment Plant. The total amount spent on the program — both before and after the contractor’s termination — stands at $881 million. This information is readily available to the public on our website, including extensive documentation and monthly project updates.
There is no mystery to the increase in projected costs. It reflects the reality of rework required to address design and construction deficiencies following the previous contractor termination (which involved a significant amount of the on-site work over the last several years), as well as inflationary pressures on materials and labour, and the competitive environment for infrastructure resources across British Columbia and Canada.
To determine the best path forward, these factors were considered in comprehensive cost estimates provided by three separate organizations, a value engineering exercise, a thorough investigation of market conditions, and a review by a Metro Vancouver Board task force.
All of these findings have been shared openly — including at a two-hour press conference in March 2024 and at length during a September 2024 meeting of the region’s elected officials, which Councillor Pope attended. The project website provides extensive documentation, including monthly newsletters, construction updates, legal filings, and a detailed timeline of decisions dating back to 2005.
Metro Vancouver has maintained a consistent and transparent approach throughout this process. We owe it to our residents to be honest about the challenges, clear about the path forward, and committed to delivering the infrastructure our region needs.
I encourage Councillor Pope — and anyone seeking to understand the full scope and progress of the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant Program — to visit www.metrovancouver.org/nswwtp for more information.
Mike Hurley is the Chair of Metro Vancouver’s Board of Directors, and Mayor of the City of Burnaby.
From my point of view, there are many unanswered questions regarding how the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant went so far over budget, such as when were the relevant decisions made, by whom, under what information and what went wrong. I believe this needs to all be clearly laid out for the public. Hence my support of Cllr Pope’s Resolution at UBCM.