The Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation rejected Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke’s request to defer dealing with the Transport 2050 and Access for Everyone Plan until after the October 17 civic election.
The was during the council’s June 25 meeting.
“I have real concerns with it for a number of reasons,” she told her fellow Metro mayors, “not the least of which is the lack of enthusiasm from the provincial government to support what is transit in our region. I think this would be better off if we could refer it and bring it back after the fall election to see where everybody’s sitting then.”
Locke said “right now” the plan as is “is not very realistic given our ability to finance the program so I would rather see this postponed until after the election so I won’t be supporting moving forward or staying the court at this time. I don’t think it makes sense – I think we have to have a real serious look at the honest or real ability to raise the kind of money we’re going to need to fulfill it.”
The matter had already been deferred from a previous meeting.
Among “headine” goals of the 2050 plan are to reduce traffic congestion by 20 per cent; that by 2050 no household, especially renters, spend more than 45 per cent of household income on transport and housing; to reduce serious traffic injuries and deaths by at least five per cent each year with the aim of achieving zero by 2050; and lowering greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from light-duty vehicles by 65 per cent, over 2010 levels, by 2030 and eliminate all transportation GHGs by 2050.
Sarah Ross, TransLink’s vice-president of transportation policy and planning, noted it’s required under legislation to review the long-range transportation strategy every five years and by mid-2028 this has to be done. “The purpose of the item at this time coming now is that I wanted to seek direction on what level of scale of review to do in advance and to be compliant with that legislative direction,” she said.
Ross conceded that the results of a civic election can change the composition of the mayors’ council and the new council would have the prerogative to change direction to staff. “So it would be very helpful to have direction from the mayors’ council today on whether we should start planning and building into our 2027 budget to review Transport 2050. It will be difficult for us to adjust although we always would adjust at the direction of a future mayors’ council to the greatest extent that we can. But it would be helpful to have direction and if we need to adjust under a new mayor’s council we will.”
The council voted to stay the course on the plan, with only Locke opposed.
Coquitlam Councillor Brent Asmundson (alternate) said a “lot of work” has been put into the plan.
“If we back off now that just gives the federal and provincial government the reasons to back off funding us for what we really need and it’ll just keep putting the region further and further behind on the transporation need,” Asmundson said. “So I would basically take staff’s advice, keep 2050 as it is and keep moving forward.”
He argued the council needs to keep the higher levels of government’s “feet to the fire, because this is what we need for our region. If they’re talking about all the housing they want, all these things they’re doing.
“They’ve gave us housing targets; we should give them hospitals, transit, every other target that we need to be successful, so I wouldn’t back off on that.”
New Westminster Mayor Patrick Johnstone agreed. “This is an opportunity for us to send a message – I know we’re all going into elections, I know there’s going to be a lot of rhetoric coming out over the next four or five months that we’re all going to have to address in our own communities. I think this mayors’ council has demonstrated its commitment to this plan.”
“Let’s keep pushing forward,” he said. “Let’s send a message to the public that we are and continue to be committed to expanding public transit in this region, to meet the growth in this region.”
Maple Ridge Mayor Dan Ruimy said the council and staff “have worked hard to get to where we are today. I have no intention of waving a white flag.”
Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West noted a “significant” amount of work has gone into the plan. “I think the key moment in this is going to be whether the Province delivers on its commitment for a new funding model. That becomes incredibly important to the future deliverability of this plan and we know that will be staring us down next year. If at that point in time the Province reneges on its commitments, then the consequence of that will be that they will have nailed the coffin of Transport 2050.”