Transport funding could sway voter choice
Mayors release ‘cure congestion’ guide for electorate
Transit and transportation spending may be a key campaign arsenal in select Metro Vancouver ridings this week as the Liberals seek to hold onto crucial seats that are in jeopardy of flipping Conservative blue.
The Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation released a “cure congestion” voters guide on Oct. 16, which says the Liberal, NDP and Green platforms include a “permanent transit fund” for investments beyond 2027, when the current federal fiscal commitments will expire.
The Conservative platform promised to support only already approved projects — extending SkyTrain to Arbutus in Vancouver and to Fleetwood in Surrey, and upgrading Expo and Millennium lines — but nothing beyond that, said council chairman Jonathan Cote, the New Westminster mayor.
“Unfortunately we were a bit disappointed with the Conservatives. They did not make a commitment to create such a fund,” Cote said Wednesday. “We need federal partners to support infrastructure in our cities.”
It is unclear how large a role transit funding will play as voters decide who to support on Oct. 21.
But what is clear is that there are multiple Metro Vancouver ridings — all of them with commuters who fight transit lineups and congested highways daily — where too-closeto-call battles are playing out, mainly between the Liberals and Conservatives. This is occurring in Vancouver, Burnaby, Surrey, the North Shore, Richmond, the Tri-Cities, and beyond.
Taleeb Noormohamed, the Liberal candidate in Vancouver- Granville, said transit funding could influence how Metro Vancouver residents — those who routinely watch four packed buses drive by without stopping or who want more transportation options to get people out of their cars — decide to vote.
“It is a major issue for voters in this riding, and across the region,” he said. “In order to deal with things like climate change, you need to invest in transit and infrastructure in a meaningful way.”
Noormohamed insisted a vote for the Liberals is the only way to get transit built, arguing the NDP and Greens cannot form a government, and funding will be clawed back under the Conservatives.
Abbotsford Conservative candidate Ed Fast agreed transit and infrastructure funding is important to voters, but argued they also want the next federal government to “live within its means.”
“So I do believe finding that balance is an important issue in this campaign,” said Fast.
If elected, Conservatives would consider funding for future transit projects, such as the Langley SkyTrain extension, based on parameters like whether they shorten commute times.
Fast added his party’s support for the George Massey Tunnel replacement will allow residents to “spend less time in traffic or waiting for a bus, and more time at home with their loved ones.”
New Westminster-Burnaby NDP candidate Peter Julian, who is likely safe in his riding but has NDP colleagues in tough battles, argued the Liberals have broken promises on transit funding and the Conservatives are “out of touch” because they don’t understand the impact of underfunding transit in Metro Vancouver.
“My constituency office is in the New Westminster SkyTrain station, and it is connected to the bus loop. So at rush hour I see the transit users that are sometimes waiting for two buses, three buses,” the longtime MP said.
“Having effective transit funding is fundamentally important. I’ve no doubt people in the Lower Mainland will be voting on that basis.”
The NDP did not pledge an amount for its transit fund, but the Liberals committed $3 billion annually and the Greens $3.4 billion, amounts that would “enable TransLink to proceed” with some items in its long-term plan, such as expanding SkyTrain to Langley and UBC, improving rapid transit in Surrey and building a Burnaby Mountain gondola, Cote said.
In the last week of the campaign, political rhetoric has intensified on this issue and others.
Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart, a former NDP MP, said he had meetings with the Liberal, NDP and Green leaders to discuss solutions to housing, transit and opioids. He said Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer refused to meet, and added the party’s platform would be bad for Vancouver.
“On transit, Andrew Scheer’s $18-billion cut to infrastructure would kill SkyTrain to UBC,” Stewart predicted.