"Mr. Floatie" was a guy dressed up -- literally -- as a six-foot-tall turd wearing a sailor's hat, his falsetto voice delivering a message from merry activists of People Opposed to Outfall Pollution (POOP).

He drove Victoria, British Columbia, officialdom nuts and focused public attention on raw sewage being dumped into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. "Floatie" showed up, as it were, like a bad smell.

As TV cameras rolled, he was barred from an all-candidates meeting during British Columbia's 2005 provincial election. The city deployed lawyers to keep "Floatie" from running for mayor of Victoria. "Floatie" danced on stage with Barenaked Ladies at a concert.

A young Victoria teacher named James Skwarok, aka "Floatie," is getting the last laugh.

The Capital Regional District has submitted a plan to begin treating the millions gallons of raw effluent that Victoria and neighboring cities discharge each day into the Strait, an international waterway.

The plan, which still must be approved by the British Columbia government, even includes phosphate recovery and bio-methane generation.

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