As chair of the Metro Vancouver board, Port Coquitlam Mayor Greg Moore worked hard to build support for the mayors' plan in the recent transit plebiscite, so he's glad to see transportation is a key issue in the federal election.
"Transportation is part of our economy, it's part of the health of our communities and, as we saw with the plebiscite, people agree that we need good transit, whether we're commuting or just trying to get around in our daily life," Moore said. "The fact that all the federal parties have come forward with different strategies around funding transportation also highlights it."
But while the plebiscite failed to win favour among Lower Mainland voters, the federal candidates are promising big bucks for cities grappling with inadequate public transportation systems, disconnected bike lanes, roads in need of repair and bridges that need to be built.
Ron McKinnon touted the Liberals' plan to funnel $20 billion in additional money for infrastructure projects across Canada over the next 10 years; leader Justin Trudeau has cited Vancouver's proposed Broadway rapid transit line, Surrey light rail and increased SeaBus service as possible projects that would get extra federal dollars.
"We're focusing on this as a stimulus," McKinnon said, noting nearly $2 billion would be committed in each of the first two years and any money not spent would still come back to municipalities in a topped-up gas tax transfer.
"But it's not for the federal government to decide how the money is spent," McKinnon said. "It will be a collaborative approach with the provinces and municipalities."
The Conservatives have a similar approach and candidate Douglas Horne said the party is committed to partnering with all levels of government to get projects completed.
"Transportation is a huge issue for local people," he said, noting Tory leader Stephen Harper recently pledged $700 million for Surrey's LRT.
Locally, Horne suggested at-grade railway crossings would be a prime project that would help ease commute times for local families.
Green Party candidate Brad Nickason bemoaned the lost opportunities in Port Coquitlam and further east with a SkyTrain line that turned north up Pinetree Way instead of heading east to PoCo and across the Pitt River Bridge.
"Think of Dominion Triangle," he said. "We could have made it into a much more vibrant community, we could have created much more opportunity in Port Coquitlam.
"[The Evergreen Line] could have spurred economic growth in Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge," he said, adding the Greens would put a greater emphasis on public transportation with a better plan.
Nickason said he'd also like to see safe bike routes and better transit shuttles to SkyTrain stations.
The NDP have pledged an additional one cent of the existing gas tax (10 cents per litre) to fund road, bridge and other transportation infrastructure projects — that would reach an additional $1.5 billion annually by the end of the NDP's first mandate, if elected. And under the Better Transit Plan, the NDP is promising $1.3 billion annually over 20 years for transit.
"An NDP federal government would really work with municipalities on this, something cities are sorely lacking right now," said NDP candidate Sara Norman. "There's been a lot of downloading from the federal to the provincial government, and the provincial government to municipalities when it comes to transit and infrastructure funding."
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