Capital Daily for Saturday, June 20

The Taco Justice truck on Cook Street went dark last November. It reopened its windows on May 21st under a new owner, Adam Barter, who bought it on the urging of a friend battling cancer.

That friend, Paul Daniels, contacted the previous owner and got the sale moving. He died soon after Barter decided to go through with it, never seeing the truck back in action. Barter keeps a photo of Daniels inside the truck.

Barter has no formal training in food service, so he's learning the menu and the industry at the same time. The deep-fried-avocado Green Bastard and the slow-cooked Belly 2 Belly already have a devoted following, and he's trying to keep the recipes exactly as people remember them.

The truck serves Thursday to Sunday, noon to 8 p.m., at 1580 Cook Street.

Eight years ago, the City of Victoria approved a graving dock for the Upper Harbour. It was supposed to cost $50 million. Ralmax never built it, twice renewing the permit while shipyard labour costs stayed uncertain enough to spook the spending.

Now founder Ian Maxwell wants to build the same dock for more than double that. The difference, he says, is the work. The federally owned Esquimalt Graving Dock is booked solid, the navy and coast guard are spending on new vessels, and thousands of derelict boats are sitting in coastal waters waiting to be taken apart somewhere safe.

The new dry dock would handle vessels up to 560 feet, enough for most of the BC Ferries fleet, and it would run as a standalone business other shipyards could book. It would sit beside Ralmax's Point Hope Shipyard in the Upper Harbour.

Maxwell intends to pay for all of it himself, which he's been told would make it the only graving dock ever built in Canada with private money. Ralmax plans to take a development permit application to council before the end of the year, and Maxwell estimates 18 months to build once shovels are in the ground.