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Yes side adds students and port workers

Several major coalitions representing Vancouver students and port workers are teaming up with the Yes side for a big push before voting starts Monday on Metro Vancouver’s transit tax plebiscite.

Several major coalitions representing Vancouver students and port workers are teaming up with the Yes side for a big push before voting starts Monday on Metro Vancouver’s transit tax plebiscite.

Student unions from Douglas College, Emily Carr University and Vancouver Community College launched the “Make it Pass” campaign Wednesday. Collectively, the unions represent over 22,500 Metro Vancouver students, many of whom rely or use the transit system thanks to the U-Pass, the only standardized transit program for students in Canada.

“We know what it’s like to be passed up by buses, we know what it’s like to not have night buses and we know how important it is that transit is affordable,” said Tiffany Ottahal, spokesperson of the campaign.

The grassroots campaign focuses on talking with the students and registering them to vote. Campaigners will be at the Commercial-Broadway station every week to register voters until May 29. They’re also walking students through phone registration with Elections B.C.

Representatives from the three students’ unions will be registering students to vote and handing out information arguing that students should vote yes. The student unions are part of a regional alliance among universities and colleges endorsing the Yes side. The alliance includes UBC Alma Mater Society, the Kwantlen Student Association and the Langara Students’ Union. The associations represent 200,000 students in Metro Vancouver.

Chelsea Yuill, chairperson of the Emily Carr University Students’ Union, is concerned about how the outcome of the vote could affect the U-Pass program. “If we have poor transit … there is a chance that our U-Pass will increase in price because transit will look for revenue elsewhere, and our pockets are pretty empty because of tuition and student debt,” she said.

Organizers plan to use social media and media advertising with graphics users can share in their social media circles.

Port Metro Vancouver also announced its support for the Yes side along with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada and the B.C. Marine Terminal Operators Association. The coalition said in a statement that transit improvements would reduce gridlock along trade corridors and would improve commutes for its employees.

“We are encouraging everyone, including our employees, to vote ‘yes’ in the upcoming referendum,” said Robin Silvester, president of Port Metro Vancouver in a statement. “This referendum is about far more than transit, it’s about funding regional transportation which includes the movement of people and goods. The two are completely interconnected.”

The plebiscite, conducted through a mail-in vote, asks Metro Vancouver voters to endorse a 0.5 per cent increase to the seven per cent provincial sales tax.