New Westminster Mayor Jonathan Cote has a simple message for politicians in Ottawa.
As chair of the Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation, Cote is leading a delegation of Metro Vancouver politicians and TransLink heads meeting with all major parties in Ottawa on Tuesday for “Transit Day on the Hill.”
What Cote will be telling federal politicians is that more money needs to be spent to ease traffic congestion through better transit.
According to a news release, this is the next phase of the Cure Congestioncampaign.
“Transit Dayis the largest ever contingent of Mayors’ Council representatives to take the issue of transit to Ottawa,” said the release. “While the Public Transit Infrastructure Fund (PTIF) and the one-time municipal top-up announced in the 2019 federal budget are significant and helpful, the mayors are joining municipalities nation-wide through the Federation of Canadian Municipalities(FCM) in calling on all national parties to commit to a Congestion Relief Fund.This fund will provide permanent, stable funding for public transit. A reoccuring fund is what is needed to fully address overcrowding and the growing demand for public transportation.”
Joining Coté are Jack Froese, Vice-Chair of the Mayors’ Council and Mayor of the Township of Langley, Linda Buchanan, Mayor of the City of North Vancouver, Mike Little, Mayor of the District of North Vancouver, Richard Stewart, Mayor of Coquitlam, Val van den Broek, Mayor of the City of Langley, Kevin Desmond, CEO of TransLink and Mike Buda, Executive Director of the Mayors’ Council.
The Ottawa visit follows a recent report showing TransLink ridership grew more than seven per cent over the past year alone – making Metro Vancouver the fastest-growing region in North America for public transit use.
“With another one million more commuters coming to Metro Vancouver over the next 20 years, a Congestion Relief Fund would enable TransLink to accelerate completion of the 10-Year Vision and start building the new projects to be identified in the next 30-year Regional Transportation Strategy.”
