Just when you thought politicians couldn’t get much more brazen in bribing voters, this past week the Liberals and NDP both targeted voters south of the Fraser River in an effort to win their support.
The Liberals first pledged to cap bridge tolls at $500 a year.
Liberal Mike de Jong said the cap would put more than $1,500 back in a commuter’s pocket if that commuter crossed a tolled bridge twice a day for work, five days a week.
Now, that’s a chunk of change.
But then the NDP basically said we can do one better and promised to remove all of the tolls off of the bridges. Whoa!
The Greens, thankfully, did not get into this bidding war.
New Westminster Mayor Jonathan Cote was pretty much having to tip toe through the whole topic in an early-morning radio interview as neither plan makes sense as a long-term funding goal or even a short-term public transit plan.
Cote, speaking from the Mayors’ Council, seemed almost dumbfounded by the situation.
As an NDP supporter, he deftly dodged flatly decrying the NDP’s plan to scrap tolls entirely. But he did say there was no way the Mayors’ Council could reconcile cutting tolls and reaching Metro Vancouver’s transportation goals.
The Metro mayors have been asking for a new tolling policy for regional bridges – not a plan to eliminate them. The bridges are already running a deficit – with tolls being charged.
Cote is in a bit of a pickle. He cares deeply about the environmental impact of more traffic on the roads, and has worked tirelessly to try and help build a model of rational public policy on regional transit issues. And then his party of choice throws a big tire wrench into the whole mess.
It has to be discouraging.
The Mayors’ Council has a detailed 10-year-vision for regional transportation and it has a lot of moving parts that include provincial and federal commitments. It appears an election pretty much means anyone can promise anything and then we’ll just see who wins and what, if any, plan is put in place.
Of course, both parties say they will work with the Mayors’ Council if elected. Right.
As someone tweeted this past week: “By the time election day rolls around, we will be promised unlimited free bridge crossings, free gas as we make our way to free B.C. Ferry crossing ...”
And a free mocha latte while we’re waiting ...
