Port Mann and Golden Ears Bridge Tolls To End September 1st

[RRxtar]

Originally Posted by westopher

B.C. taxes are near exact to alberta. We collect 47 billion from 4.65 million people. Alberta collects 42 billion from 4.14 million people. You missed an important part of the equation.

to take that one step further

Alberta's 2017 Budget calls for 11.1 billion in revenue from personal income tax
BC's 2017 Budget calls for 9.1 billion in revenue from personal income tax (MSP adds another 2.3 billion)

[GS8]

Originally Posted by quasi

So what happens to all those treo employees

One article said only a few Treo employees were being let go. Was a little surprised at that. I wonder if others are being relocated elsewhere?

Originally Posted by quasi

That huge building they built near Ikea a few years ago?

Bring back Bargain Castle!!

[Gnomes]

Revenue for breaking Treo contract and toll income lost definitely wont come from pipelines

[Dragon-88]

Haha this sucks for me. I rarely take this bridge but I'm crossing about 6 times this weekend to go to Chilliwack. Wish it would stop now..

[whitev70r]

Originally Posted by danned

nothing is "FREE" forever
something might come up later

Ice bombs will now be free, you won't have to pay a toll to get those!

[A-Dev]

Just have Burnaby pay for the bridges

What will, or should, Burnaby do with its $1B reserve fund? - British Columbia - CBC News

[meme405]

Originally Posted by westopher

B.C. taxes are near exact to alberta. We collect 47 billion from 4.65 million people. Alberta collects 42 billion from 4.14 million people. You missed an important part of the equation.

Right, my point was more so tied into spending, expenses to run a province don't go up linearly compared to your population.

So if you go the other way and look at spending our BC government spends more per person than almost every other province in BC.

Originally Posted by RRxtar

to take that one step further

Alberta's 2017 Budget calls for 11.1 billion in revenue from personal income tax
BC's 2017 Budget calls for 9.1 billion in revenue from personal income tax (MSP adds another 2.3 billion)

That's kinda shortsighted AB residents don't have PST. So of course income tax is going to be higher. I'd pay an extra 1.8% on my income tax to save 5% on everything I buy...

Originally Posted by A-Dev

Just have Burnaby pay for the bridges

What will, or should, Burnaby do with its $1B reserve fund? - British Columbia - CBC News

This may not actually be such a farfetched thing. Burnaby benefited the most from skytrain expansions, it's one of the many reasons they operate in such a surplus, and the skytrain is something they didn't pay for, and has provided enormous growth to their city. This bridge is the same thing, the bridge benefits burnaby, surrey, langley, etc the most. It's not crazy to have those regions foot a bill. Especially when a city like burnaby runs around rubbing their 1billion dollar account in other cities faces pretending they are so good at managing themselves.

[westopher]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding but are you talking about spending our tax dollars as a negative? I'll take the better infrastructure maintenance, investment in green energy, protection of resources, and the other things that come with that.
You ever drive a block in edmonton then have a glass of their shitty tap water? I'll happily pay more taxes if it avoids that.
Hell I'll gladly pay more taxes, the only demand being that there is some accountability how the money is spent. We have yet to see if that will be the case here, but it's funny, most of the people talking about how the NDP "bankrupted the province" probably weren't even old enough to pay taxes back then, never mind have any idea about the economic climate. Lots of shit changes in over a decade.

[Mr.HappySilp]

Originally Posted by westopher

Maybe I'm misunderstanding but are you talking about spending our tax dollars as a negative? I'll take the better infrastructure maintenance, investment in green energy, protection of resources, and the other things that come with that.
You ever drive a block in edmonton then have a glass of their shitty tap water? I'll happily pay more taxes if it avoids that.
Hell I'll gladly pay more taxes, the only demand being that there is some accountability how the money is spent. We have yet to see if that will be the case here, but it's funny, most of the people talking about how the NDP "bankrupted the province" probably weren't even old enough to pay taxes back then, never mind have any idea about the economic climate. Lots of shit changes in over a decade.

We might not be paying taxes but I remember parents several part time just to keep food on the table since there aren't that many full time jobs around. Oh and don't get started how hard working people are getting screw while lazy people are getting hand outs that's more that what a min wage workers make.

It sure make sense right? Lazy people getting more than people who HAVE TO WORK for min wage.

[westopher]

Originally Posted by Mr.HappySilp

We might not be paying taxes but I remember parents several part time just to keep food on the table since there aren't that many full time jobs around. Oh and don't get started how hard working people are getting screw while lazy people are getting hand outs that's more that what a min wage workers make.

It sure make sense right? Lazy people getting more than people who HAVE TO WORK for min wage.

Do you think the NDP were the reason for less jobs? Or are you aware of the global economy? Also, please show me one instance where someone collected MORE on welfare than someone who actually had a job under NDP leadership. If that was the case your family should have quit their jobs and just cruised along.
Regardless this isn't Gordon Campbell, and this isn't 1996.
Alberta's economic downturn coincides with an NDP government, but the provinces #1 contributor to the GDP dropped from $100 a barrel to $30 a barrel in the worldwide market. The problem is people don't understand that correlation is =/= to causation.

[77civic1200]

Originally Posted by meme405

This bridge is the same thing, the bridge benefits burnaby, surrey, langley, etc the most..

Uhhh did you forget about coquitlam?

[underscore]

Originally Posted by westopher

I'll take the better infrastructure maintenance, investment in green energy, protection of resources, and the other things that come with that.

Forget all that, I'll just take not having to live in Alberta.

[meme405]

Originally Posted by westopher

the only demand being that there is some accountability how the money is spent.

This is what I am getting at: Our government spends more per person, and yet we don't get more than any other province.

Yeah sure we have good tap water, that's not really our governments doing, kinda a bi-product of geographical luck. Again roads and stuff of course compared to most of AB where winter is 8 months long are going to suffer. I'd actually say that given that fact, Edmonton and Calgary have staggeringly nice roads.

Our government has won a lottery compared to the other shit the other provinces have to deal with. Our government doesn't have to worry about so many things just given the resources, water, and climate we have.

And yet they fail to capitalize on any of these things and just continue to squander money in the most ridiculous and callous ways.

My point in all these posts in this thread is that I have ZERO faith that our government (liberal, NDP, green whatever) is anything but unethical and self serving in the spending of our tax dollars. So like you, until I have assurances that more money isn't going to be wasted on things we DO NOT need, or more spending in ludicrous ways to appease one minority group of people while the middle class of this province stumbles like a stone thrown down a cliff, I vehemently oppose any further taxation.

There are critical problems with our crown corporations, critical problems with public sector unions, CRITICAL problems with the way our government chooses to spend the money we give them, and for decades an entire class (the middle class) has been too busy trying to work to afford the things we want and our government fails this class at every turn. Taking money from hard working families and giving it to people who don't care to help themselves, or pouring it into extravagant things which serve nothing but their own greed and hunger.

We've been too busy just trying to make our own way, without handouts, without assistance, and while giving up to 40% of what we make which ends up seemingly going to this abyss where we will hardly ever see anything useful out of it. But we've finally reached the tipping point here in BC. The point at which now it has pretty much become impossible for any normal person regardless of how hard or how long they work to afford to have things any normal person should be able to have. I know you don't disagree with that.

I just want our government to stop this ridiculous scheme of robbing Peter to pay Paul. Where they take money from one area (ICBC for example) to pay for something in another area (Medical for example). Or they increase carbon taxes to cover infrastructure spending.

I'd like to see our government start to consolidate the ridiculous myriad of ways they are lining their pockets with our money and develop a more concise list of fair methods to tax our population. This methodology of introducing all sorts of new taxing methods I'm done with.

We need a government who is going to be FUCKING HONEST with us, instead of distracting us with something like taking away tolls, while they find a new way to fuck us with a mobility tax.

Pick aircare as an example, how many of us on here thought that removing air care would end up being replaced by annual inspections, or something the government wasn't telling us? Thank goodness they didn't do that (yet). But how ridiculous is that, that these are things people wonder if the government is up to. Cause they keep us out of the loop on what the fuck they are doing so often. Is that the kind of democracy we want to live in? Where our government doesn't tell us what the fuck is going on or what the fuck they are doing from end to end?

I don't know, just one huge rambling from someone who is so completely overwhelming fed up by our political climate, and unfortunately its a systematic problem which exists all over westernized culture. We're all selfish greedy bastards, and all the politicians care about is how to move money from your pockets to their own for as long as possible. And if you don't believe this just go read all the stories about the ridiculous expenses of so many of these MP's and people you have voted into power.

[stewie]

Originally Posted by A-Dev

Just have Burnaby pay for the bridges

What will, or should, Burnaby do with its $1B reserve fund? - British Columbia - CBC News

Originally Posted by meme405

This may not actually be such a farfetched thing. Burnaby benefited the most from skytrain expansions, it's one of the many reasons they operate in such a surplus, and the skytrain is something they didn't pay for, and has provided enormous growth to their city. This bridge is the same thing, the bridge benefits burnaby, surrey, langley, etc the most. It's not crazy to have those regions foot a bill. Especially when a city like burnaby runs around rubbing their 1billion dollar account in other cities faces pretending they are so good at managing themselves.

They operate in such a surplus because of the way the city is run. Many cities in north america copy Burnaby's business plan as to how it works. The amount of money they make from all the houses they own is remarkable. They buy older houses for sale and have city plumbers and carpenters fix them and the city becomes your landlord as they rent the houses out on craigslist for a fair honest price.

[Mr.HappySilp]

Originally Posted by stewie

They operate in such a surplus because of the way the city is run. Many cities in north america copy Burnaby's business plan as to how it works. The amount of money they make from all the houses they own is remarkable. They buy older houses for sale and have city plumbers and carpenters fix them and the city becomes your landlord as they rent the houses out on craigslist for a fair honest price.

Unlike Vancouver, Burnaby is so dumb to say we will end homeless by 2016 (or was that 2017). Lol this cause MORE homeless from not just BC but other parts of Canada come to Vancouver coz you know free housing. And when Mayor Moonbean can't end homeless he goes on to complain about it.

Burnaby also knows bike lane isn't a solution to traffic so instead of pushing all the bike lanes it try to improve on the current roads to prevent traffic in one area.

[Mr.HappySilp]

Originally Posted by westopher

Do you think the NDP were the reason for less jobs? Or are you aware of the global economy? Also, please show me one instance where someone collected MORE on welfare than someone who actually had a job under NDP leadership. If that was the case your family should have quit their jobs and just cruised along.
Regardless this isn't Gordon Campbell, and this isn't 1996.
Alberta's economic downturn coincides with an NDP government, but the provinces #1 contributor to the GDP dropped from $100 a barrel to $30 a barrel in the worldwide market. The problem is people don't understand that correlation is =/= to causation.

Other countries also suffer from the economy but did you see them end as badly as we did? Have you actually try paying 14% on your mortgage and have your one of parents force to work in another country and only seem them once of twice a year? Bet you didn't have to experience that.

A good gov can turn a terrible economy downtime into a ok one. A horrible gov can turn good times into terrible one just like the NDP.

Don't have to look far. Just look at what the NDP did last week. Let's remove tolls without thinking where we going to get that money from. Let's just tax everyone afterwards. And this is just the beginning.

[westopher]

Originally Posted by Mr.HappySilp

Other countries also suffer from the economy but did you see them end as badly as we did? Have you actually try paying 14% on your mortgage and have your one of parents force to work in another country and only seem them once of twice a year? Bet you didn't have to experience that.

A good gov can turn a terrible economy downtime into a ok one. A horrible gov can turn good times into terrible one just like the NDP.

Don't have to look far. Just look at what the NDP did last week. Let's remove tolls without thinking where we going to get that money from. Let's just tax everyone afterwards. And this is just the beginning.

Go have a look at Greece or Ireland 10 years ago if you want to actually see what a suffering economy looks like.

Your parents jobs aren't 100% tied to the government in power I bet. Nor are their jobs indicative of an entire provinces economy.

I dealt with never seeing one parent for my entire life, and barely seeing the other for the first 10 so she could afford to put a roof over our heads. That wasn't the governments fault.

So provincial NDP set your mortgage rate?

If the new taxes affect you that badly form bridge tolls, which should have been paid for by taxes and infrastructure spending to begin with, your economic situation was in serious danger to begin with.

This post is another example of how you need to look outside the walls of your tiny world before you think that the way something affects you is the way it affects everyone.

[inv4zn]

Originally Posted by westopher

This post is another example of how you need to look outside the walls of your tiny world before you think that the way something affects you is the way it affects everyone.

So much truth in this, and it applies to lots of people here as well.

The people that scare me the most are those with an opinion that is both strong and short-sighted.

[meme405]

Originally Posted by stewie

They operate in such a surplus because of the way the city is run. Many cities in north america copy Burnaby's business plan as to how it works. The amount of money they make from all the houses they own is remarkable. They buy older houses for sale and have city plumbers and carpenters fix them and the city becomes your landlord as they rent the houses out on craigslist for a fair honest price.

Don't kid yourself. Burnaby isn't some prodigy city, their planners aren't genius'. Otherwise a city operating in a surplus of over 100m a year wouldn't have chosen to stick it to their residents even further with a property tax increase of 3% last year. Especially when property values soared in that same period by like 30%. If I was a resident of burnaby I'd be pissed to hear my city has a billion dollar fund, and operates in surplus and continues to raise my taxes. What kind of bullshit is that.

They benefited the most from major developments in areas like metrotown, brentwood, holdom, gilmore, edmonds, lougheed, and down towards the water at river district. These areas have become hotspots of construction activity because of the skytrain stations running near them. Not to mention when the skytrain was built the city owned or snapped up many of the lands near the stations, so they could later sell them off to developers for huge amounts of cash. This is where all that money came from.

It has nothing to do with their operations, and everything to do with the rapid increase in prices in areas where the city owned many lands.

The bottom line is this: Burnaby was not at all densified besides a few small niches, and over the last 10 years they have made tremendous strides in converting those less densified areas (specifically around skytrain stations) into cold hard cash for themselves. It's great, they've done a good job. But without the skytrain the rest of metro vancouver and this province paid for, burnaby would still be a void of dead space and rows of detached homes. They stood to gain the most, and all they have done is convert on that.

[Liquid_o2]

Originally Posted by originalhypa

really?
Coming from a guy who lives in East Van?!
How is that $1800/month, 600 square foot basement suite going for you?
How many times a week do you have to fight with your neighbours over a parking spot?



You're are ignorant of anything east of Boundary rd.
This is why no one cares about your opinion.

You shouldn't make assumptions. I lived in Surrey for 22 years. Saw a LOT of change and growth south of the Fraser in that time, and still do.

As an urban planner, I can tell you that Langley is one of the most poorly planned cities I have ever seen. You might think it's the bees knees with its huge residential lots and sprawling strip malls, but you will never have me singing it praises. It's the closest thing you can get to living in a typical American suburb. Only city I know that built an overpass over a bypass

[fsy82]

Originally Posted by meme405

Don't kid yourself. Burnaby isn't some prodigy city, their planners aren't genius'. Otherwise a city operating in a surplus of over 100m a year wouldn't have chosen to stick it to their residents even further with a property tax increase of 3% last year. Especially when property values soared in that same period by like 30%. If I was a resident of burnaby I'd be pissed to hear my city has a billion dollar fund, and operates in surplus and continues to raise my taxes. What kind of bullshit is that.

They benefited the most from major developments in areas like metrotown, brentwood, holdom, gilmore, edmonds, lougheed, and down towards the water at river district. These areas have become hotspots of construction activity because of the skytrain stations running near them. Not to mention when the skytrain was built the city owned or snapped up many of the lands near the stations, so they could later sell them off to developers for huge amounts of cash. This is where all that money came from.

It has nothing to do with their operations, and everything to do with the rapid increase in prices in areas where the city owned many lands.

The bottom line is this: Burnaby was not at all densified besides a few small niches, and over the last 10 years they have made tremendous strides in converting those less densified areas (specifically around skytrain stations) into cold hard cash for themselves. It's great, they've done a good job. But without the skytrain the rest of metro vancouver and this province paid for, burnaby would still be a void of dead space and rows of detached homes. They stood to gain the most, and all they have done is convert on that.

You say its not a prodigy city but yet they took advantage of the skytrain construction, like any smart business owner would do. They run the city like a proper business. I give them huge props for that especially the project management/development side and the mayor and his staff. That city is running like a well oiled machine.

Progress is made by timely decisions and educated investments with some small risks here and there. They struck gold

[meme405]

Originally Posted by fsy82

You say its not a prodigy city but yet they took advantage of the skytrain construction, like any smart business owner would do. They run the city like a proper business. I give them huge props for that especially the project management/development side and the mayor and his staff. That city is running like a well oiled machine.

Progress is made by timely decisions and educated investments with some small risks here and there. They struck gold

You're right, they did strike gold when the rest of the province footed the bill so that they could have two of BC's biggest infrastructure projects (Expo and Millennium lines) go directly through the heart of the city.

And now they benefit from additional traffic and access through burnaby with the evergreen line and the removal of tolls on the port mann.

You're right they've done great to capitalize on the lottery they won with the all the money this province is pouring into projects that pass right through Burnaby. But you'd have to be completely daft to not realize how lucky they have been with the way things have gone.

Meanwhile North Van can't even get the additional seabus they were promised, not to mention Translink doesn't run the thing late at all so it's useless when you want to go out at night DT.

[originalhypa]

Originally Posted by Liquid_o2

As an urban planner, I can tell you that Langley is one of the most poorly planned cities I have ever seen. You might think it's the bees knees with its huge residential lots and sprawling strip malls, but you will never have me singing it praises. It's the closest thing you can get to living in a typical American suburb. Only city I know that built an overpass over a bypass

I agree 100% that it's a poorly planned out city. I asked the city planners a decade ago about their prodigious use of medians, and the one thing the fellow kept harping on was to control traffic. Not to allow it to flow, but to control where people could go. Langley's designs aren't based on flow. They're based on the township's desire to have power over the masses.

But what do I care. I'm on 5 acres overlooking the fraser valley. When I'm ready to sell my multi million dollar estate, I won't be staying in Langley. As a place to raise kids, it's great. But if I wasn't in the situation I am now, we wouldn't be here. I'm still not sure why the asians love it so much here. I went to an open house the other day for a $3 million dollar executive home across the street from where I live, and I was the only Caucasian person there. A house smaller than mine, on a property 1/10th the size of mine, and they were climbing over each other to put down an offer.

Langley is still ten times better than Maple Ridge though. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Ridge Meadows can eat a brown dick for all I care.

[whitev70r]

So when will NDP announce the elimination of my MSP payments?

[westopher]

When they roll it into your income tax like Alberta does.