An independent engineering report about the safety of Coal Harbour’s new $22 million float-plane terminal is being kept out of the public eye.
In January, Business in Vancouver filed a freedom of information request to access a copy of the report, which was expected to land on Jobs Minister Pat Bell’s desk late last year and finally disclose whether the dock had been properly built.
In a response this week, BC Pavilion Corp. (PavCo), which operates the Vancouver Harbour Flight Centre (VHFC) in Coal Harbour, said the report was being withheld because its disclosure could be “harmful to the financial or economic interests of a public body” and to the “business interests of a third party.”
Neither PavCo nor the Ministry of Jobs could be reached for comment regarding the decision to withhold the report, or to answer when its findings might be made public.
Greg McDougall, CEO of the Harbour Air Group and chief opponent to the VHFC, was reached late Tuesday by telephone and confirmed that he had seen the report, but had signed an agreement not to discuss its contents.
McDougall’s companies, which handle more than 90% of the 300,000 passengers who fly in and out of Coal Harbour every year, remain at a temporary wooden dock just west of the VHFC.
He said that so far no changes have been made to his lease at that dock or the dock from which his companies operate.
The VHFC opened last May but has remained largely empty after McDougall refused to move his business there due to allegedly penalizing fees (see “Float-plane dogfight drags on in standoff over Coal Harbour terminal fees, safety” – BIV issue 1144; September 27- October 3, 2011.)
@jmckaybiv
