With each action, the Falcon style becomes clearer:
He travels and sees something exciting (highways in Shanghai, turnstyles in London.)
Back home, a quick announcement and a done deal.
From the Sun: “Malcolm Brodie (chair of TransLink) said he met with Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon a few weeks ago about the plans for the system but did not know the full details of the plan or when an official announcement would be made. He said he understood Falcon had devised his plan for the rapid transit system after visiting the London Underground.”
The politics is populist; facts are secondary to perception. If the public thinks there’s a problem, that’s all that counts.
Jurisdiction is irrelvant. It doesn’t matter what municipal politicians say or think – so long as they don’t get in the way.
Someone has to pay, but the cash flow will go to the private sector. Tolls will pay for bridges; fares will pay for the turnstyle operators.
The problem: priorities are distorted and opportunities are lost. If the tolls on the Port Mann go only for road infrastructure, a source of revenue for transit is lost. If fares have to be increased to pay for the turnstyle operations (including the personnel) or if the money could otherwise go to expanding service, transit riders lose.
And as jurisdiction shifts from a regionally rooted board to the office of the minister, transportation planning for the long term becomes secondary to populist whims.
Some are catching on. The latest sign is “Keep Translink Public” – a group raising the flag on Bill 43, the act to reorganize TransLink.
Take a look.
Unfortunately, there’s not much we can do to stop him. He’s autocratic, and Gordon Campbell is freely giving him the powers to do so. Falcon isn’t going to crumble. Unless we can force Campbell to reign Falcon back in, nothing’s going to change.
And he’s going to be around for a while. There’s a high likelihood of Falcon remaining Transport Minister through the next five years, as it’s quite clear the Liberals will rewin their spots in Legislature in 2009. I mean, just keeping Carole James around is ensuring the NDP will never get a majority. And in a province with only two clear parties, unless the Greens miraculous jump out of nowhere (unlikely, especially without STV), well then, it remains Liberal territory.
Scarier though is how Falcon, through his fanatical ideas and projects is putting himself in the limelight and is already being discussed as future leader of the Liberal party. So, depending on if Carole Taylor is ready to win him for the job, we may see this guy as our Premier in a very short time indeed.
It’s likely that if Falcon did become premier, he would flame-out, Vander Zalm or Glen Clark style. The Liberal party would splinter, as Social Credit did after Zalm and the NDP did after Clark.
I wish the premier WOULD micromanage with regard to turnstyles. Aren’t British Columbians tired of this fly-by-the-pants political style. Perhaps Sullivan and Watts are keeping quiet because transit projects are unlikely to come their way if they protest against Falcon, as Derek Corrigan does. Don’t Liberal MLAs attune themselves to what is happening. Ralph Sultan and Daniel Jarvis, North Shore MLAs should be just outraged at Falcon and his Bill 43 . Property taxes will be funding Surrey freeway projects.
Carol Taylor will likely be jumping to Vancouver mayoral candidacy, so I wonder if Peter Ladner could actually run for the Liberals when he sees the mess on the municipal scene. Will he run as a Green or another party? That could be one of the more interesting places to watch in provincial politics – Vancouver Langara.