New Royal B.C. Museum: Here’s why the government says it’ll cost $789 million
B.C. NDP Government is marching ahead with its eyebrow raise $789 million plan to rip down the Royal BC Museum and rebuild it while releasing their business case on Wednesday.
A look at the documents claims it would cost more to repair the museum instead of rebuilding a new one but the pricing has been blacked out
Tourism Minister Melanie Mark proudly released the business case for the almost billion dollar mega project, museum replacement, however significant amounts of the 109-page document are blacked out and redacted.
The business case is filled with countless pages of assessments and reports commissioned by the BC NDP government since 2018 and says the current museum is “beyond its useful life and is seismically unsafe for visitors, staff, collections and exhibits,” and has inadequate collections storage.
“Significant investment is required to meet modern day best practices, to update the
core galleries to include inclusive and representative stories of all the peoples in B.C., to meet building and accessibility standards, and to protect against environmental degradation” the document reads
“We are releasing the business case to provide as much background as possible. The announcement of a new museum is the culmination of a decade of work. We have done our due diligence to determine the best path forward. The business case is a culmination of five years of work,” Minister for Tourism, Art, Culture and Sport Melanie Mark said.
The BC NDP government said everything we need to know will be in the business case when it is released but that’s not the case.
One third of the documents were blacked out or redacted and there is no transparency in to the spending so we don’t know if it is wasteful spending. There’s still no design images to give the public an idea of what the almost billion dollar project will look like when completed.
Here is a sample of the design images that are available. This is what the tax payers are paying $789 million. The BC NDP did not have have the curtesy to show the public an image of what any of the new structures will look like.
Multiple sections of the Royal BC Museum business case are fully redacted and not available to see.
The news conference was not attended by Premier John Horgan. He has been criticized for announcing the decision to demolish and replace the 54-year-old museum without consulting the public or presenting a design for the replacement structure.
Kevin Falcon, the leader of the B.C. Liberal Party, has promised to scrap the “vanity museum boondoggle” if he wins the 2024 election.
However, B.C. Liberal jobs critic Todd Stone notes the current museum is slated to be demolished in spring 2024, months before the next Provincial election.
Stone said Wednesday he’s “shocked the government is doubling down on this project” despite public outcry.
Stone is concerned that crucial cost breakdown and risk analysis information has been withheld from the public. According to him, the government’s business case publication was a “elaborate exercise in smoke and mirrors” that won’t sway any concerned British Columbians.
Other controversy
Alicia Dubois gave the announcement of the new museum plan at the May 13 press conference worth $789 million redevelopment and did not mention Nish Synergies Advisory Group.
A report by Daily Hive suggests a possible Conflict of interest after being announced as CEO on February 9, Dubois Dubois kept a “full schedule of public speaking engagements and appearances that include promoting her private consulting business.”
“The unusual, repeated omission of this essential information raises concerns about conflict of interest and about Dubois’ level of commitment to her new job.
Dubois abruptly left her previous job as CEO of the Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corporation (AIOC) on November 12, 2021 after just 14 months. According to Corporations Canada records, she incorporated Nish Synergies Advisory Group on November 19, 2021. Dubois is the lone member of the board of directors, and the registered office address is a residence in Canmore, Alberta. She also registered the domain name nishsynergies.ca on November 14, 2021.” reports Daily Hive
