Mayors’ Council calls on parties ahead of federal election to commit to funding transit projects

The Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation is calling for a federal congestion relief fund to help solve our traffic and transportation issues in Metro Vancouver. Mary Cranston has more.

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – If you want to see public transportation around Metro Vancouver continue to improve, make it an issue during the upcoming fall federal election.

The TransLink Mayors’ Council is asking for your help to get Ottawa to commit to a long-term funding agreement.

Yes, transit improvements have been made under the current 10-Year capital plan, however, New Westminster Mayor Jonathan Cote notes the funding will come to a stop in a few years.

“And for us to be able to continue the momentum, continue the investments in transportation laid out in the Mayors’ 10-Year plan we need stable, predictable funding that we can count on,” he said. “Funding that we are able to do our longterm plan and be able to have certainty that we are going to be able to continue.”

That means pressuring your MP come this fall.

With an election looming, Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart wonders if it’s time to end this “project-by-project” style of planning.

“Major cities like Toronto and Montreal get a lot of attention from the federal government. We as the regions mayors are not going to sit back during this federal election and let them grab the lion’s share of the attention.”

This push comes as part of a nation-wide initiative through the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, which wants to see federal parties sign on to create a “permanent, direct federal funding mechanism for modern public transit.

It’s being described by the TransLink Mayors’ Council as the Congestion Relief Fund.

The Mayors’ Council is looking for $375 million annually for TransLink starting in 2028, as part of a 30 year regional transportation strategy.

The money would pay for un-funded projects in the current 10-year plan, which includes the SkyTrain extension from Arbutus to UBC’s Point Grey Campus.

Call for federal cash welcomed, but local government can do more: CoC

While the B.C. Chamber of Commerce welcomes the push by local mayors to secure more federal funding, it believes more can still be done at the provincial and municipal levels to improve transit around the region.

If these mayors are successful in getting this federal funding, that’s certainly something the chamber would see as positive.

However, Dan Baxter, the director of policy development with that organization, says things like mobility pricing are an option to improving transit.

“It’s more sustainable, and a more sustainable source of funding if it’s done right over the long term so that we’re not layering more cost honestly, but shifting the cost off of gasoline tax to how we drive our vehicles.”

The BC Chamber of Commerce believes money raised could also go to improvements beyond transit, like replacing the Massey Tunnel.

“We want to make sure that we’re not necessarily just glaring on another tax, but that we’re actually finding a tax that is shifted from an unsustainable source like a gas tax to a more sustainable source like mobility pricing.”

On concerns about how things like mobility pricing could impact every day life, Baxter adds it’s important that it’s done right.

“Hopefully if it;s done right, in a holistic way, where the federal government does come with more dollars, the provincial government invests money. The other thing I would put in there from  a B.C. Chamber point of view, it’s not just investing in our transit infrastructure, but investing in our trade-enabling infrastructure.”

Baxter recognizes there are infrastructure needs all over the province, but says this is where local government needs to step up.

He also points to the North Shore as a region that is in need of transportation improvements, not just on the transit side.

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