Peter Fassbender, the provincial Liberal minister responsible for TransLink, tried to pull a fast one last week. He failed miserably.
You may have seen the story he leaked in Thursday’s Vancouver Sun with the headline: “Province ponies up $246 million for transit.”
The announcement was timed to break on the morning the Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation was meeting.
Typical of these leaked stories, there was no comment from any of the region’s mayors. There was the comment from Fassbender that “The mayors would be crazy to say no” to the province’s offer to invest in Phase 1 of their 10-year transit plan.
(Actually the mayors have since concluded they would be crazy to say yes.)
Also typical of Fassbender’s oily operating practices was his attempt to divide that group of mayors before their Thursday meeting.
While he was handing the story to The Sun on Wednesday, he was also on the phone to a number of the mayors giving them a heads-up. Among those he did not inform were the mayors of North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond and Vancouver.
In fact, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson told me that, in his role as the chair of the Mayors’ Council, he was talking to Fassbender the day before the announcement was made public and Fassbender didn’t bother to mention the $246 million to him.
The Liberals and the region’s mayors have had what could politely be called a dysfunctional relationship ever since the Liberals under Gordon Campbell and his Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon stripped the mayors of any power over regional transportation. This followed a lengthy back-and-forth debate over approval of the Canada Line. The local elected officials were replaced by an unelected, provincially approved board of directors. And the mayors have been fighting to regain that power.
(Incidentally, when they tried to have former New Westminster Mayor Wayne Wright added to the TransLink board, the province turned them down.)
The most recent fiasco was the referendum forced on the region by the province in order to get the province to increase the sales tax by a half of a per cent, which would have gone towards funding the regional transportation system. Millions were spent. The public debate quickly shifted to TransLink’s competence and lack of political oversight. The referendum failed.
Meanwhile, Premier Christy Clark announced her government would go ahead with a replacement for the Massey Tunnel with a 10-lane toll bridge, which most recently is estimated to cost somewhere north of $4 billion. There was no referendum and the mayors of Richmond and
Vancouver both opposed the project because, among other things, it would only make problems with traffic congestion in their communities even worse.
The mayors have yet to come up with a mutually acceptable funding source for their 10-year transportation plan. Vehicle levies and a piece of the carbon tax have been rejected by the province in the past.
The province has instead pressed the mayors to increase property tax — they have resisted, particularly given that they have no control over how that money will be spent by TransLink.
Robertson notes that while the region’s mayors and the federal Liberals are committed to the 10-year plan, if the province is only committed to Phase 1 “the rest may never get built.”
He has also had a problem with Fassbender zeroing in on funds from developers who get increased density around transit stations. These funds are commonly called CACs, or Community Amenity Contributions; they are essential for building parks, libraries, community centres and affordable housing, all increasingly important in municipalities that are becoming more dense.
While the article with Fassbender’s announcement cites up to $1 billion available from developers, Robertson says that figure is “ludicrous.” “There is no connection between that and reality.” At the current rate of regional growth, it would “add $50,000 to each unit.” But more to the point, CACs are closer to $10 to $20 million.
Robertson is unimpressed by pressure from Fassbender for the Mayors’ Council to move on funding before the federal commitment goes away. That money, he says, is solid.
And in spite of Fassbender’s best efforts, so is the determination of the region’s mayors to carry on their fight with the province over funding sources and control of TransLink.
@allengarr
