08) VOTE “YES” IN TRANSPORTATION AND TRANSIT REFERENDUM
Statement by the Communist Party of BC
Starting on March 16, residents of the Metro Vancouver region in British Columbia will face what some might call a “Hobson’s Choice” dilemma. That is the date when the mail-in referendum/plebiscite on the Metro Vancouver Transportation and Transit Plan begins, and runs until May 29. Voters will decide whether to approve a 0.5% regional increase in the provincial sales tax, in order to finance badly needed improvements to public and commuter transit systems and alternative transportation options.
Voters face two choices: 1) Vote Yes to the tax increase, to provide funds for transit improvements, or 2) Vote No, and continue to see our transit degraded and traffic congestion increase, along with more air pollution and more social problems.
The Communist Party of BC urges its members and supporters to vote "Yes". Together with the trade union movement, the Metro Vancouver Alliance, and environmental groups, we say that the urgent need for better public transit outweighs the flaws in this referendum.
The Communist Party believes that public transit is a public service, which should be fully funded by all levels of government. Under a socialist system, transit, health care, education, and other social services would be regarded as basic human needs. Unfortunately, we live in a capitalist system which puts corporate greed ahead of peoples’ needs, a philosophy which the BC government slavishly follows to its logical conclusion.
Unfortunately, a "Yes" vote in this case does allow the province to abrogate its responsibility to adequately fund public transit, by imposing a sales tax increase which puts a greater burden on low-income people. The BC Liberal track record has been a relentless strangling of funding for public services. Budget after budget bring tax breaks for the wealthy and the corporations, fewer services for the people, and a huge shift of public money into private bank accounts. It’s nothing personal, it’s just “good business” to turn public assets and programs over to private, for-profit businesses. No public service is immune from this process, including transit.
But in our opinion, the much needed improvements to the transportation system in the Greater Vancouver area far outweigh the negative effects of this regressive tax. We also warn that a "no" vote would be followed by new fare hikes which would seriously affect low-income people. For those who depend on public transit, the benefits of a "yes" vote will include improved bus scheduling, more service hours, more late night and B-line service, and preparations to add another new 400 vehicles in service over the next two years. This will be a direct benefit for the marginalized, elderly, students and shift workers. HandyDART service, which has been seriously degraded by this government, will be improved by 30%. Rapid transit will be extended down the Broadway corridor towards UBC, and a light rail transit project will begin for Langley and Surrey. These improvements will help get individual vehicles off the road, reducing traffic congestion and greenhouse gas emissions. Resources will be available to add 2,700 km of new bikeways, including 300 km of traffic-separated cycling routes, and improved services for bike parking at transit stations.
Those who call for a "no" vote often agree that transit improvements are needed, but focus their campaign on the dubious record of TransLink, the government-appointed board responsible for transportation infrastructure in Metro Vancouver. There is much to criticize about the mismanagement of budgets and planning by TransLink's board, which has no accountability to the people even though they are charged with managing billions of taxpayer dollars. Originally comprised of elected members from the region’s civic governments, this body was summarily turned into an unelected board of government appointees, to facilitate billions of dollars of road and bridge construction as a part of the notorious “Gateway” project, to help the resource corporations export unprocessed raw materials.
Ironically, the same right wing forces campaigning for a no vote today - the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, the Fraser Institute and others - were strongly in favour of the re-structuring of TransLink and the Gateway project. These groups also favour the privatization of public transit and all public services.
The BC Liberals are directly responsible for putting the citizens of this region in the position of having to voluntarily agree to higher taxes in order to pay for services that are the responsibility of the government. However the vote goes, the government will suffer no negative impact, as they have cleverly put the entire onus on municipalities and the people themselves. If the yes side wins, the Liberals will take credit for improving transit; if the no side wins, they will claim that the people are happy with the status quo and willing to wait years longer for any major improvements.
The Communist Party of BC is urging people to vote yes in this referendum, and to defeat the Christy Clark government at the next election in 2017. We also demand that TransLink be re-structured once again as an elected and accountable body, so that working people can gain some ability to have greater input into these vital issues of public transit and transportation.
(The above article is from the March 16-31, 2015 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading socialist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)