Members of New Westminster City Council and the Vote Yes New West coalition were at local SkyTrain stations bright and early last Monday morning to meet with transit users and promote the benefits of a Yes vote in the upcoming transportation and transit referendum
As transit goers rushed to get to their destinations, Mayor Jonathan Cote and councillors Bill Harper and Chuck Puchmayr greeted them at the New Westminster SkyTrain station from 7 to 9 a.m.
“It’s been very busy,” Harper told the Record. “People are pretty receptive, but they’re on their way to work. They don’t have a lot of time to chit-chat.”
Harper said it appears there are a lot of people who still aren’t aware of the upcoming referendum.
“They’ve kind of heard about it, but they don’t really know the details,” he said. “This is the constituency that doesn’t vote.”
New Westminster spearheaded a New West Vote Yes coalition, which consists of a diverse group of local organizations that are supporting the “congestion tax” aimed at addressing the region’s transit and transportation services.
A new poll by Insights West reported that 55 per cent of 1,604 respondents in Metro Vancouver recently indicated they plan to vote No in the upcoming referendum, while 33 per cent planned to vote Yes to the 0.5 per cent increase to the provincial sales in Metro Vancouver to cover transit and transportation improvements.
Cote, a member of the Mayors’ Council on regional transportation, still believes a Yes vote is possible.
“I think we are certainly facing an uphill battle,” he told the Record. “I think people are starting to finally pay attention to the referendum and what the referendum is about. All we can do is get as much information out about what’s included in the mayors’ transportation plan and we’ll see what happens. Definitely, we are in tough.”
Harper believes the critical factor will be getting supporters, including those who rely on transit and transportation enhancements, to send in their mail-in ballots.
“The real question isn’t the polls. What do you think about the polls in the last provincial election?” he said. “I think there is a huge amount of people who are undecided. I think the real question is who is voting. Those people, who are traditional voters, particularly in a municipal election, will have a better understanding of the general populace. They keep track.”
Councillors Lorrie Williams and Patrick Johnstone were at the Braid SkyTrain station and Jaimie McEvoy and Mary Trentadue took the 22nd Street SkyTrain station on Monday morning.
“It’s important we do anything we can do over the next two weeks to get out and talk to as many people as possible, and really talk about the benefits of the mayors’ plan,” Cote said. “I have been talking to a lot of people. Even when they tell me why they are voting No, a lot of it is for reasons about TransLink or even the provincial government or the federal government. To me, it’s trying to focus people on what this referendum is all about. It’s about investing in our transportation system.”
Beginning March 16, Metro Vancouver residents will begin receiving ballots in the mail and will be able to vote on whether to support a 0.5 per cent increase to the province sales tax in Metro Vancouver to generate funding to expand the regional transit and transportation system.
While supporters of the Yes vote maintain the funding is needed to address the transit and transportation needs of a growing region, many on the No side of the campaign cite concerns about mismanagement at TransLink and the need for improvements at the transit authority.
“I know there are serious concerns out there – I hear them every day,” said New Westminster MLA Judy Darcy, a member of the Vote Yes New West Coalition. “Frankly, we are not going to solve the problems at TransLink, we are not going to solve some of those bigger issues by voting No in this referendum.”
Critics have also sounded alarms about a number of issues, including the bureaucracy and governance model associated with TransLink.
“The reality is voting No in this referendum isn’t going to solve any of those issues,” Cote said. “We need to put forward what we can do to address those core issues – that’s an investment in transportation.”
In fact, Cote believes a Yes vote provides a better opportunity for making changes within the TransLink organization.
“A successful referendum, I think gives a lot of momentum for the mayors and will give us a lot more influence when we have discussions with the province,” he said. “A No vote does not give us the authority to have those discussions.”
A recent survey by the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses’ found that 91 per cent of respondents don’t believe TransLink will spend the new tax revenue wisely, eight per cent believe it will spend it wisely and one per cent don’t know.
“It’s not at all surprising that many entrepreneurs have a tough time trusting TransLink. Clearly, they have a major credibility issue,” said CFIB vice president for B.C. and Alberta Richard Truscott in a press release. “The Yes side says this isn’t a vote about TransLink. But how can it not be? We’re talking about giving TransLink billions more in taxpayers’ money. Yet their track record is littered with waste and mismanagement.”
