Photo: Burnaby Lake
 

Unless there's still a way to trap or track the turtles, mayor really has no choice but to reschedule the project

"We're not going to allow the mayor to kill turtles just because he's been caught not having permits in place," - Barry Penner

Environment Minister Barry Penner and Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan traded verbal punches this week and, not surprisingly, both said the other guy's team was to blame for the fiasco.

But Corrigan drew a new line in the sand when he said it's now or never for the Burnaby Lake dredging project. We hope he said those words in frustration. Having an emotional response would be completely understandable under the circumstances. After all, what should have been a simple process - protecting the Western painted turtles - has turned into a multimillion-dollar nightmare.

It is probably too late to try and tag the turtles - they're probably already on their way to hibernate under the mud at the bottom of the lake. And, frankly, whether the city missed the turtle boat or the Environment Ministry's process was hard to navigate, it's a moot point now. The city can't dredge if it means that it will decimate the turtle population, and there doesn't seem to be any way of guaranteeing that dredging will not damage the population.

Will the mayor give the green light to the dredging company and violate environmental laws? We think not. As upset as he might be over this whole mess, he really has no choice but to cancel the dredging until next year and negotiate with the dredging company. Corrigan's now-or-never position just won't pass muster. One more year of silting won't kill the lake. It's certainly an embarrassment, but painful as public embarrassments are, people survive them and often provide great lessons for others in the process.

Will it cost taxpayers some dough? You bet. But that's the cost of doing business with endangered species. It's high risk for everybody - politicians and turtles alike.