What we’re asking for
Four asks, and one goal worth committing to
Advocacy that only says “this is bad” is easy to agree with and easy to ignore. These are the specific things we are asking councils, the CRD, the Province and UVic to do — some immediate, some on a ten-year horizon.
That every child in Greater Victoria gets six weeks of swimming lessons. Not as a nice-to-have, but as the water-safety floor for children growing up on an island. It is already being done elsewhere in British Columbia — grade 2 students in Sooke receive lessons funded by the BC Lions Club. The question is not whether it can be done. It is whether we choose to.
Reopen McKinnon Pool
Short termMcKinnon sits on the UVic campus, on land within Saanich, and its closure took six 25-metre lanes out of the region. Renovating an existing facility is considerably cheaper than building a new one, and it is already well placed on a campus serving students, athletes and community users from across the region.
An assessment has estimated roughly $5.1 million in work to reopen it on a temporary basis source needed, with operating costs in the region of $300,000 a year source needed. We are asking the CRD and member municipalities to examine seriously whether that is worth carrying between them, and to say publicly what conditions would need to be met.
Plan a new pool in Saanich to replace Gordon Head
Medium termGordon Head Recreation Centre opened in 1971. Planning for its eventual replacement should start before it fails, not after — and the replacement should add capacity rather than simply restore what exists today.
We are asking for a funded plan drawing on multiple partners: Saanich, the Province, the CRD and private fundraising. Staff bring forward location options; council makes the call. The sequencing question — whether to secure funding or a site first — is exactly the kind of thing that stalls projects for a decade if nobody names it early.
Plan for a new pool at UVic
10–15 yearsUVic has identified the potential for a future aquatic facility associated with CARSA. We are asking for formal discussions among UVic, the municipalities, the CRD, the Province and aquatic user groups about whether a partnership there — in the CARSA space or an alternative campus location — could meet part of the regional need.
A university pool serves students, campus clubs, varsity athletes, residents of campus housing and the surrounding community at once. That breadth is precisely what makes a shared funding model plausible.
Build a new pool in Oak Bay or View Royal
Long termOak Bay Recreation Centre was built in 1975 and is approaching more than fifty years of service. The region needs more water in more places — not one new pool in one municipality that everyone then drives to.
We are asking that additional capacity in the eastern and western parts of the urban core be treated as part of a regional aquatic plan, rather than left to whichever council happens to move first.
Reopening McKinnon buys the region time. It does not solve the underlying problem, which is that Greater Victoria has too little water for its population and an aging stock of facilities reaching end of life at roughly the same moment. Short-term relief and long-term capacity are not competing asks — the first is what makes the second survivable.
We shouldn’t wait for the next pool to close
When a pool closes, the swimmers don’t disappear. They move to the remaining pools. Saanich, Oak Bay and regional partners need a long-term aquatic facilities plan that looks beyond replacing what we already have.