Daniel Fontaine isn’t keen about the idea of taxing toothpaste to pay for transit.
As a transit user for the better part of two decades, Fontaine said he’s a “huge fan” of the SkyTrain and bus system. He has concerns, however, about TransLink’s proposal to generate money for transportation and transit improvements through a 0.5 per cent increase to the provincial sales tax in Metro Vancouver.
“My concern relates to the type of tax. I am not sure that taxing toothpaste to pay for transit is the right way to go,” he said. “When you tax toothpaste, yes, you are generating revenue and you will get income to pay for transit; I fully acknowledge that. What you are not doing is you are not linking it to behaviour. What you’re doing is essentially punishing the purchase of a consumer product – you are not linking it back to transit.”
Fontaine supports an increase to the gas tax to fund transit improvements in Metro Vancouver.
“The gas tax has successfully raised a lot of money for TransLink for the better part of a decade,” he said. “Those dollars go directly into transit. There’s a link between the amount of fuel you consume and the distance driven, and how much you pay. There’s a direct link: drive more, pay more; drive less, pay less.”
If the Mayors’ Council on regional transportation had looked at the gas tax as an option for raising funds for its transportation plan, Fontaine would have been more open-minded about its decision to go to the provincial sales tax.
“My concern is it starts at 0.5 and there’s nothing saying that in five years or 10 years it’s not going to be one or two per cent,” he said. “I have lived on this planet long enough to know that taxes rarely stay stable. They do move. They do go up. There will be an increasing pressure to generate more revenue. It will be easier for them to tax the toothpaste than to increase bus fares or put the gas tax up.”
With gas prices having dropped in the past year, Fontaine believes the Mayors’ Council missed an opportunity to increase the gas tax as a means of generating revenue for transit and transportation improvements.
“I remember when the carbon tax was put onto fuel, people raised their hands and were upset. Now people don’t even remember the carbon tax is in the fuel price. It is just paid,” he said. “I think we could have explored that a bit further.”
Beginning March 16, Metro Vancouver residents will be receiving mail-in ballots in the mail and will have until May 29 to vote on the Mayors’ Council’s plan.
The proposed 0.5 per cent increase to the provincial sales tax would be used to generate funding to expand the regional transit and transportation system for services such as more buses, Pattullo Bridge replacement, rapid transit along the Broadway corridor in Vancouver and light rail transit in Surrey and Langley.
Fontaine said he doesn’t often share the same view on issues as Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan, but agrees with him that the Mayors’ Council’s plan serves up a big wishlist of mega projects.
“There is a lot of stuff in there,” he said. “I think, perhaps, there should have been better priority setting and not so many mega projects.”
Fontaine fears the Mayors’ Council developed a plan based giving everybody a piece of the pie to get the support needed for the mayors to sign off on the vision. As an example, he said the plan includes an expensive light rail system in Surrey, when a rapid bus network may have been a better investment and caused less disruption to existing transportation infrastructure.
“Instead, we are jumping into this really nice, sexy looking mega project like rapid transit,” he said.
Fontaine would like to have seen TransLink pare down its funding plans and look at making changes within the organization to address the public’s concerns about TransLink.
“We are seeing from the public opinion polls, if you can believe them, sadly, this could be lost before it has started. It could go down in flames,” he said. “I am actually of the view that there is a Yes vote, a No vote and an Alternative vote. Even if you vote No and you don’t support this, it will force public policy makers to come up with another alternative. They can’t just sit back and do nothing.”
With or without a Yes vote, Fontaine said projects like the Pattullo Bridge replacement need to proceed.
“I think they may not have put Plan B before the public – I don’t think they want to talk about it – but I’m almost certain the folks at TransLink have a Plan B,” he said. “They have to have a way, particularly on some of the larger projects like replacement of the Pattullo, there’s got to be a way to find the funding to do it.”
Fontaine hasn’t made up his mind 100 per cent and is still engaging in discussions about the referendum and willing to be convinced a Yes vote is the right way to go
“I fundamentally so support public transit. I must admit, it’s almost like a guilt factor in voting No because I don’t want to send the message to transit and transit users that I don’t support public transit. I thoroughly do,” he said. “I struggle with that intellectually to vote No and still support public transit. I am trying to work through in my mind if I do vote No, would there be an alternative. I am hopeful that if that does happen there will be a Plan B.”
