Tolling all drivers $1 every time they cross a bridge – something Delta Mayor Lois Jackson recently trumpeted – is inconvenient, ineffective and most of all, inequitable.
The notion a driver would have to pay to go from Norgate to downtown Vancouver but Coquitlam residents could cruise all the way to English Bay for free is ridiculous.
If Jackson is looking for all of Metro Vancouver to help pick up the tab on the new $3.5-billion Massey Bridge (which we’re tentatively calling The Lois Lanes) we can hardly blame her.
As ill-advised as we regard her comments, the real blame lies with our province.
When Premier Christy Clark was elected, she proudly talked about her mandate. With the will of the province behind her, we wonder why our premier seems positively timid to touch our worsening transportation problems.
We don’t need another transit referendum to find out if anyone is eager to pay more taxes. We need leadership, and that doesn’t mean an interchange here and a bridge there.
While we may disagree with Jackson, the most egregious comments in this debate were voiced by Transportation Minister Todd Stone, who said there was “plenty of time” to figure out a regional strategy to deal with congestion and infrastructure.
Tell that to the folks crawling along on The Cut. They’re the ones who are going to be late for dinner.
Here in Metro Vancouver we have daily gridlock, frustration, and huge amounts of carbon dioxide being belched into the atmosphere: we have everything but time.
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