Deadline for transit tax vote less than a month away, what you can expect

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – We are less than three weeks away from the end of the transportation plebiscite, so what can you expect in that time from both sides of the vote?

Jordan Bateman with the ‘No’ side says they have a small budget, so they aren’t able to go big on advertising like the other guys.

“We still have a few things that we’re rolling out. We don’t have $7 million taxpayer dollars like the ‘Yes’ side does to blanket the region with ads and signs and commercials and robocalls. So, we’ve been really reliant on social media, on person-to-person connection. We’ve been putting out all sorts of things throughout the campaign and we’ll keep doing that right to the end and continue to push people out to vote.”

Port Coquitlam Mayor Greg Moore with the ‘Yes’ side says they have a budget of $6 million and they haven’t reached that yet.

“We’ve been out trying to educate the citizens on what’s in this plan. This is a very big and complex plan and to break that down for the 2.4 million residents that we have in this region, we did, we had to spend some money so we could advertise and get messages out. So, if you live on the North Shore, you understand there are three new B-Line buses and that the SeaBus is getting increased by 50 per cent. Or if you’re in Langley on the opposite end, there’s going to be a light-rail system that’s built, increase B-Line buses, more capital money for the major road networks. So, breaking a very complex plan down into neighbours did cost us money to ensure people understood what was in this plan when they’re voting.”

Last-minute campaigning aside, both sides are confident they’ll win.

“I think I’m more optimistic after the Alberta election, seeing how the pollsters were proven correct in that election. But honestly, it’s up in the air. The TransLink Mayors have spent $7 million taxpayers’ dollars to try and buy this election. That buys a lot of ‘Get out and vote,’ that buys a lot of robocalls and those are resources that a $40,000 campaign like ours just can’t compete with. It’s up to the people, but we’re certainly hopeful the ‘No’ voters will make their voices heard,” explains Bateman.

Moore echoes the sentiment. “I think if the ‘No’ side wins, we all lose. Because there will be no regional spending on transportation and transit services. TransLink has no funding sources to go forward with beyond property tax and the mayors have been very clear that property taxes already accounted for going forward into police, fire, water, sewer and recreation type services.”

“We talk about a million people coming, they’re not coming in 10 years — they’re coming now. Last year our population increased by 38,000 people, that’s like adding Port Moody to this region, and that on average is going to happen every year moving forward. So, if you can just picture how many cars that means in your morning commute — we talk about the congestion of roads, but it’s also congestion of the bus service. A lot of the bus lines are standing room only and not in just peak periods but in off-peak as well.”

Remember, Elections BC has to have your ballot in their possession by May 29th, if you don’t have one yet, you have until this Friday to do that. “I think people are under the impression that if they drop their ballots in the mail on May 28th, that they’ll be fine and be counted, but that’s not true. Look, if someone takes the time to vote even late in the process, it’s important to make sure that vote gets counted. I don’t think Elections BC has done a very good job of making it clear that just dropping it in the mail and having it post-dated is good enough,” says Bateman.

The plebiscite asks if you support a 0.5 per cent sales tax increase to generate millions of dollars to fund transit projects across the region, including more buses, a subway line for Vancouver and improved roads.

Roughly 40 per cent of people have returned their ballots so far.

You can weigh in on the mail-in vote on paying for transit and transportation improvements by joining our exclusive News1130/PlaceSpeak conversation.