It didn’t hurt to ask, but Esquimalt council’s invitation to federal Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq to meet and discuss the Capital Region’s sewage treatment project was turned down.

Esquimalt had asked in July that the federal and provincial government put their funding agreements with the Capital Regional District on hold until an audit of the entire plan could be done.

In a letter received by the Township recently, the minister restated that federal regulations mandating secondary treatment are in effect and that the CRD will be given until 2020 to put the necessary infrastructure in place.