A North Shore community alliance is ramping up pressure on the province over what it calls a governance crisis at Metro Vancouver, warning that skyrocketing wastewater costs are pushing families, retirees, and lower-income residents to the financial edge.
In a press release issued March 7, the North Shore Neighbourhoods Alliance (NSNA) commended North Vancouver mayors Mike Little and Linda Buchanan for meeting with Premier David Eby on March 5 to raise concerns about the escalating costs of the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant — but made clear the group believes the problem runs far deeper than a single infrastructure project.
“The North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant is only one example of a broader trend of cost overruns and mismanagement within Metro Vancouver,” said NSNA spokesperson Dan Anderson. “This is no longer a budgeting mishap — it is a crisis of governance.”
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North Shore ratepayers are now on the hook for annual bills of at least $590 tied to the wastewater plant, with those costs locked in for the next three decades, the press release noted. The NSNA has been demanding an independent public inquiry into the project’s cost overruns and lengthy delays since July 2024, when the group first called on the province to act under the Local Government Act — a request it says has been repeatedly ignored.
The press release noted that West Vancouver’s mayor did not attend the March 5 meeting with the premier and has not called for an independent inquiry, despite West Vancouver residents and business owners facing the same financial burden as their North Vancouver counterparts.
With municipal elections set for Oct. 17, 2026, the NSNA is putting candidates on notice. “Anyone seeking to represent their community in this election will need to address Metro Vancouver’s accountability and the devastating impact its mismanagement has had on households,” Anderson said. “These are non-deferrable costs — families, retirees, and lower-income residents are bearing the brunt of these failures.”
The NSNA is calling the province’s continued failure to publicly hold Metro Vancouver to account unacceptable — particularly as North Shore households continue to struggle under rising regional utility costs with no clear resolution in sight.
