The letter sent from the Liberal party to its supporters is really something. It boasts that they kept their election promise.

Maybe it's just me, but I can't help but roll my eyes at how this letter is written.

https://pricetags.wordpress.com/2015...tter-nonsense/

"The other piece of the puzzle is TransLink. This agency must now focus on restoring the confidence of Lower Mainland voters by delivering reliable service levels, and improving customer relations. They now have an excellent opportunity to take a big step forward in this direction as they recruit a new CEO."

What a joke. What was a pretty functional entity in the 2000's got run into the ground by the BC Liberal's since the 2007 restructuring by Kevin Falcon. It's up to the Liberals to turn the Board of Directors back to local democratically elected officials. Too bad Christy Clark has already stated she will in no way restructure TransLink back to its previous governance structure. Fuck the Liberal party of BC for this entire mess and not having a backbone to making important decisions.

Fixed

The provincial government (BC Liberals in this case) simply abdicated their responsibility to lead and to govern. They've successfully spun off the burden to deal with the issues of transportation, creating Translink to mask a knowingly growing problem.

The public has spoken - There is little to no trust in Translink and their secret meetings and conspicuous spending. And the Mayors Council? They're going to need a miracle to fix this and answer to the $6 milllion dollars wasted.

Do you work for the Liberal party? Sounds like you don't think any of this is their problem.

Man, if I worked for the party do u think I'd be on rs everyday? Lol.

It is their problem. But how is it that they're still calling the shots and constantly fucking up major responsibilities after they ran translink aground by moves in 2007? The toilet should've been flushed last election.

yes :)

What I think 604 is trying to say is that the problems we are facing with regards to the BC Liberals is mainly due to the fact that we were stupid enough to vote for them over and over again...

^
And those who did not vote are to blame for as well. (It's how I understood the post.)

If they're too lazy to vote, they're too lazy to research the people and parties they would be voting for. Would rather no vote than a poorly-informed vote based on the fear-mongering ads they see on TV.

True this. Especially among a lot of the ethnic Chinese that I know, they have this unreasonable and unjustifiable fear of the NDP, thinking that with an NDP-lead government, the province is automatically going to go bankrupt by giving free money away in social services and to the various unions.

The cold hard truth and the fact of the matter is, after 4 terms of BC Liberals "leadership", the state of our province's social services, our education funding, and the salary levels of union workers (other than nurses) have deteriorated to such a sorry state that they have more holes than a block of Swiss cheese.

To maintain balance, governments need to exchange hands between different political parties. Keep the pendulum swung one way for too long, and things will go out of whack in society. Unfortunately, too many people are too dumb to understand this concept.

i was talking to my dad at dinner and he mentioned it's technically 12 million. 6 from the vote and another 6 from the 'yes' side's advertising which comes from our pockets...(not sure if that dollar figure is true)

Here's the breakdown on the $12m

Smyth: Weep for your wallet today, let?s fix this TransLink mess tomorrow

Not surprised at the results, but still frustrating. Just like the HST debacle. And I do agree...the money spent from the "Yes" side was bullshit.
This vote should have been on the election ballots, it would have passed I bet. And we wouldn't be wasting the 12 million.

Most of the anti-GMO, pro-whitewash Yoga, bicycle humping, latte thumping, live-within-a-block-of-9-to-5-shit-job people on my FB friend's list seem to have gone off on similar tangents about how we, the people, screwed ourselves on this transit debacle.

Vancouver Picks Doing Nothing Over Proposed Transit Tax | VICE | Canada

See, the problem for me is when you lean too far left or right on the political spectrum, you start thinking with your heart and not your head.

For me the Plebiscite felt like Translink and the Government were asking me to bail them out of the mess they caused (a la GM). True it's not the same but when I look at how much more we could have advanced since 2000, I feel appalled. They could have asked me for a tax hike waaaay back in the day and I would have voted yes. I accepted the Carbon Tax despite our gas prices being fucking hilarious compared to elsewhere and I even accepted the HST.

To me, Translink and the Government just sat idle all these years, collected their high pay and did the bare minimum to get this city ready, not just for the Olympics, but beyond that. And when I say bare, I mean BARE. Sure we have some road improvements and a couple of new bridges but I truly believe these issues could have been dealt with a long ass time ago.

Look at Coshitlam. It's all ready for the Evergreen Line but the city's density has been buffed but the roads are still the same leading to ridiculous traffic times to drive short distances, not to mention it's become 'Richmond Jr. with regards to retarded drivers and pedestrians. It'll lead to a very interesting commute once the trains start running.

Anyway, the following rant has been brought to you by Rickard's White. It's some damn good shit for a day like today...

Don't worry, this bullshit government will still laud it's fiscal "responsibility" come election time when they talk about how much money they saved through budget cuts/freezes to education, health care, and other public services, completely ignoring the fact that our public services are in shambles.

while the stole from ICBC too.

Lol, especially that wide road between the bus station and what used to be future shop. That fking light added for the longass crosswalk.

It wasn't even a vote about Translink - it was about transportation planning for the 20 years.

We'll never get the Translink reforms we need because the province now has an excuse to not meddle in the affairs of the organization. The NDP won't touch it either, so what now?

How about shedding salaries from the top of translink? How about cutting their bonus perks? There are quick hits to be made before saying that there are no other alternatives

1. The cuts you're suggesting are a rounding error on the total Translink budget - barely a few tenths of a percent.

2. Those wages the execs are not unreasonable wages. How much do you expect to pay an exec that runs an organization with an operational budget of over $1.5B?

The waste talk is such bullshit - Translink delivers more per dollar than any similarly sized transit system. https://darylvsworld.wordpress.com/2...-inefficiency/

Then Translink should have no issues opening up their books and being held accountable for their decisions and showing that they are spending our money prudently.

Why is the government and Translink resisting this move, if they are turly efficient as you say?

^ Translink was already audited a couple of years ago and the savings that could be achieved were modest at best.

People expecting a lean machine with little waste that is on par with a private company are naive at best. There will be some degree of inefficiency with any public organization because of the special interests they typically need to serve (like the disabled, or rural communities) and a challenging work environment (e.g. unionization). Sure, you could privatize public transit, but then, suburban residents would even have less service than they do now because suburban routes would not be profitable.

You could fire the Translink board and hire university urban planning graduates for 50K/year. That won't solve the issues that public transportation is facing. You could trim the fat, but that won't build subways to Langley or increase bus service to White Rock.

Would people vote "yes" tomorrow if Translink fired its executive and slashed salaries across the board by 50%? As Pete McMartin said in the Sun this weekend, we have a love affair with the private automobile - we're just too smug to admit it.

It was about $6 million for the "Yes" campaign. Then another $6 million for Elections Canada to implement the ballots.

It was a meager $40,000 for the "No" campaign. Not bad, I might say. :accepted:

http://www.cbc.ca/m/news/canada/brit...cism-1.2753332

Not excessive? So its fine getting these "perks" by asking the public for more money through taxes and then what if they won the vote? Higher bonuses? No thanks. I voted for what i think its right and i'm glad it won. And btw, i take transit everyday.