The Editor,
Re. "Biz wants trans. funding reform" (The Tri-City News, Oct. 5).
I shouldn't be shocked to see that the BC Trucking Association and the Gateway "council" are having quiet, closed-door meetings with our governments to try to persuade them to tax us in different ways to help TransLink with its goals.
The audacity of groups such as this undermining our democracy and our papers advertising it as if its quite right! It is not! This is just another example of our failing governments. These people want to do good things for us in their minds but highjacking democracy isn't it.
The funding options for public transportation was raised at the Liveable Region Strategy when then-Vancouver mayor Gordon Campbell was chair of the Greater Vancouver Regional District. Hundreds of people representing our region participated in dozens of conferences and workshops over years to find consensus on all the possible ways to raise funding for public transit.
All these and many other good resolutions for our region's future were put on the back burner by the government of the day and there were many groups hiding behind the governments telling them what they should really do. That's why I'm not surprised that the truckers and the Gatewayers feel they can just bypass the citizens of this region and get the politicians to do what they want.
When we go billions over budget on bridges, roads and transit without funding supported by an open, democratic process, we really should be trying to stop these miscarriages of equity and, while we are at it, let's think about sustainability and political reforms.
Steve Mancinelli, Coquitlam
