Former B.C. premier proposes housing on Granville Island amid financial challenges

Granville Island is one of the most popular destinations in Metro Vancouver – but it’s facing an uncertain future.

VANCOUVER, B.C. -- In a region where artist space is at a premium, Granville Island is an oasis of sorts, serving as a cultural hub for Vancouver.

Where creative types like Emma Canning – who also goes by dirtspindle as an artist – can make a living while doing what they love.

“Me and my co-workers who run this pottery shop together, there’s six of us and we’re able to make a full-time living being artists because we’re on Granville Island,” Canning told CTV News on Friday while working in the Kingsmill Pottery Studio Shop. “That’s incredibly privileged and lucky to be able to do, but this island gives us that opportunity.”

The island has become a favourite spot for locals and tourists alike, but now needs hundreds of millions of dollars of upgrades, with major financial pressure building.

Needed work ranges from fixing up the iconic Public Market building’s roof to simple road maintenance.

“The $300-million price tag is an estimate based on everything,” Granville Island general manager Tom Lancaster told CTV News on Friday. “That’s sea level rise, it’s all the renovations on our buildings, it’s all the infrastructure, it’s finishing the seawall around the island, and it’s all the upgrades we need.”

But with doubts the federal or provincial governments will write a cheque – some are floating alternative propositions.

One of those voices is former B.C. premier Mike Harcourt, who played a crucial role in creating the Granville Island we know today while he was Vancouver’s mayor – and got boos from the crowd at a recent event when he floated the idea of building housing while speaking on a panel related to the island’s future.

“It’s run down and it needs a lot of repair and it’s not financially viable now, the Granville Island Trust, which is run by the federal government,” Harcourt told CTV News on Friday. “Let’s take advantage of the fact that there’s lots of parking lots there sitting vacant now and to be financially viable, build some housing, some 10-, 15-storey buildings.”

Lancaster said Canada Mortgage and Housing, which runs the island, has no plans at this point to build housing, but welcomed Harcourt pitching a creative idea.

It’s unclear what the future is going to look like for Granville Island is in the process of setting up a charitable foundation – which it hopes to launch next year to start building funds for the needed upgrades and repairs.