Mayor suggests the Fraser Valley pay more to fund TransLink

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MAPLE RIDGE (NEWS1130) – It’s the latest chapter in the back-and-forth between cities who think their neighbours should pay more to help run the region.

A local mayor’s suggestion people in the Fraser Valley should pay more at the pump to fund TransLink has re-opened an old debate.

Maple Ridge Mayor Ernie Daykin admits his idea might not go very far — and judging by the reaction in the Fraser Valley, he’s right. Mayors in places like Abbotsford, Chilliwack and Mission have quickly rejected the idea.

Daykin has proposed something like a couple of cents a litre on gas so the Fraser Valley can help fund TransLink. “We’ve got to talk about the whole system, the strategy. I think the Valley needs to be part of that, at some level, some point.”

But Mission Mayor Ted Adlem says there’s no need for people in the Valley to pay more.

“I think we pay more than our share, and Ernie should perhaps ask his own taxpayers to pay more to subsidize their own transit system,” he says.

Chilliwack Mayor Sharon Gaetz argues the Fraser Valley is not a bedroom community for Metro Vancouver.

“Studies show that only about 10 per cent of locals leave our area to shop, work or play outside of our region, and most of them only go as far as Langley or Surrey,” she maintains.

Richard Walton, who chairs TransLink’s Mayors Council, says if there’s one truth, it’s that every part of the region thinks it’s somehow being shortchanged.

Daykin realizes what he’s started. “It’s worthy of a conversation. It may be a very short one.”

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