Good news on the whole:
Vaughn Palmer: With Fassbender’s arrival, TransLink the ‘whipping boy’ no more?
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After fielding one of the toughest assignments in the current term of the B.C. Liberal government, cabinet minister Peter Fassbender has been handed another huge challenge in an otherwise modest cabinet shuffle. …
A former mayor of Langley City, he has served as both chairman and vice-chairman of the TransLink mayors’ council, where he proved to be no slouch at speaking his own mind. …
He did say that the immediate job in the wake of the plebiscite is to restore public confidence in TransLink, particularly as regards “fiscal management.” …
In his days on the mayors’ council, Fassbender was an opponent of further increases in property taxes and he briefly supported a vehicle levy, until that notion backfired for a second time.
He’s also on the record as a fan of road pricing and congestion taxes. And as former mayor of one community south of the river and now an MLA for another, he’d presumably side with those demanding “equity” in tolling policies on river crossings, tied to the proposed replacement for TransLink’s Pattullo Bridge.
Talking to reporters Thursday, he acknowledged having expressed strong opinions over the years and will no doubt continue to do so. But he also maintained that he intends to approach the new posting with “an open mind,” seeking consensus if possible.
Still, one quote from his days on the mayors’ council is worth repeating in the current circumstances: “We have to stop TransLink being the whipping boy in all of these discussions and focus on what the region needs.”
Now more than ever, I’d say.
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But while the appointment of Fassbender may give reason for optimism, his mandate, received in the accompanying letter from the Premier, doesn’t.
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The whole mandate letter is here – but these are the critical sentences:
Metro Vancouver voters appreciated the opportunity to make their voices heard on those issues, and the issues surrounding Translink itself. As a result, I have decided to place responsibility for Translink with the Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development – as the issues surrounding Translink following the outcome of the plebiscite are now inextricably linked with taxation issues facing local governments in Metro Vancouver.
Questions surrounding taxation and the significant funds that will be required to pay for the transit improvements outlined in the Mayors Council vision for transit and transportation are best dealt with by looking at the issues facing communities as a whole.
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One possible interpretation:
The plebiscite worked insofar as we fulfilled our promise to the voters and escaped any critical blowback. TransLink’s reputation was ruined, of course, but fortunately they’re still carrying the blame for the failure of the vote along with the region’s mayors who received a vote of non-confidence.
Our long-standing position can now be reinforced: money for transit has to come from local government – property taxes in particular. But there shouldn’t be big tax increases to do so; that’s what we mean by “by looking at the issues facing communities as a whole.” Local government will have to repriorize, using existing revenues – and this should help force them to do so.
Thus through this strategy we are both able to limit the growth of local and regional government, while at the same time drawing revenues from the Metro economic engine to fund our chosen transportation projects, including, Minister, light rail in Surrey and to your community in Langley.
If that means little or no progress on transit elsewhere in the region, along with an inability to shape growth according to the regional plan, we can live with that. My advisors, drawn from the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, are confident that we have or will be building enough roads and bridges to handle growth in the parts of the region we care about.
As for the City of Vancouver, maybe they should think more carefully about who they vote for.
I think the sad reality is his real mandate is to just be a better communicator than Todd Stone. I fear that until a new provincial government is in place no change will take place.
Bravo. Fassbender is a tough (yet fair) guy who knows that citizens want more government services but not more in taxes. He held the line well with the teachers’ strike on wages & benefits. I would expect a similarly hard line here with overpaid TransLink staff. [what’s next after that ? BC Hydro ? ICBC ? BC Ferries ? Universities ?] If he supports road pricing, and/or possibly property tax increases that makes sense, too to fund public transit, as opposed to more provincial money. We cannot expect citizens in Kelowna to fund an LRT in Surrey/Langley, and neither can we expect citizens in Bowen Island or White Rock to pay for a subway under Broadway.
GST + PST at 12% and income taxes are as high as they should go. That leaves property taxes (very low per $100,000 in Lower Mainland, especially given its high non-resident or affluent immigration %), efficiencies ie wages & benefits, higher parking fees especially on residential streets (perhaps in lieu if property tax increases as it is real green actually), higher user fees and road tolls.
As such, overall a good move.
Vaughan Palmer Vancouver Sun:
VICTORIA — As Premier Christy Clark sees it, the transit plebiscite “told us two things,” both rooted in the political past with implications for the future.
Lesson one, the premier told a media scrum Wednesday: “People didn’t want to pay a new tax.” Lesson two: “Citizens told us they don’t trust TransLink. They don’t trust it to do its job with their money.”
Taking those lessons in turn, her B.C. Liberal government learned the hard way, via the citizen-initiated referendum that overturned the harmonized sales tax back in 2011, that folks feel taxed to the max.
One of the ironies of the transit plebiscite was watching some of the same people who’d helped torpedo the HST argue that this particular change in the sales tax was a good thing and fume about the “misinformation” spread by the anti-tax side.
The HST experience also left the B.C. Liberals well-schooled in the dangers of promise-breaking on taxes.”
” don’t trust it “, that certainly had much to do with it and Jordan Bateman didn’t need to fan that flame.