It’s just a matter of time before the awfulness of the proposed referendum (for any new source of revenue for transit funding in the region) becomes fully apparent. This is, despite the appeal of breaking through the impasse between region and province, not a proposition that has much chance of success.
To get a taste of the debate likely to ensue, just check out the letters in today’s Sun. In all the three, there are either mistakes or misunderstandings – but so what? TransLink serves as the convenient whipping boy, and few are likely to come to its defense. The frame will be set before the wording of the initiative is even settled on: Send TransLink a message to protest a grievance.
If the Province proceeds with a referendum under the current proposal, the implication is pretty clear: ‘We do not want to take responsibility for approving taxes to fund transit expansion for Metro Vancouver – but don’t want to have to say that. The referendum will do it for us. Meanwhile, we expand highways.’
.
[No. of days until civic elections and possible referendum: 509]
British Columbian voters are the people who added $3 billion to their public debt in order to ‘send the governing party a message.’
Guess who’s going to pay back the $3 billion? Hint: it ain’t coming out of the party coffers of the BC Liberals.
Given that result and Translink’s long history of being the regional whipping boy, this referendum is already a lost cause. It’s an incredibly cynical move by a party that’s abandoning even the barest fig leaf that it supports transit expansion in the Lower Mainland.
With the timing of the referendum to coincide with the municipal elections, it’s going to become an opportunity to make sure the BC Liberal vote, especially the hard right components, comes out to support the Liberals’ farm teams.
I’d dearly love to be wrong on this but so far I see no reason for optimism.
Although I agree that the referendum is probably doomed, using the comments section in local newspapers to judge public sentiment can often lead to an overly pessimistic outlook. The majority of people reading articles are reasonable and silent, while the people who tend to comment are the ingnorant loudmouthes.
I was shocked when the liberals won the election, because in all of the internet angry old fools relentlessly complained about the “Lieberals” and “Christy and her incompetant lackeys”. It sounds similar to how people complain about “Translink’s incompetant lackeys”. I wonder how many people actually think Translink is completely incompetant, or if it’s just the same eye-bulging mouthbreathers who comment about everything. Didn’t a recent poll find reasonable support for modest tax increases, at least compared to doing nothing.
I wonder if the Liberals will allow the “pro-taxes” options to split the vote, so that even if pro-tax options receive more of the total vote than “do nothing”, “do nothing” will still win. If there is 5 different pro-tax options, no single option could beat “do nothing”.