BC Election - May 9th, 2017

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by squiggs96

It sounds like Horgan will announce the elimination of toll bridges today at 10:00 am PDT. It will save daily commuters, the people who actually use the bridges, about $1,500 per year. It eliminates about $200M in revenue between the Golden Ears and Port Mann bridges. It also likely eliminates the jobs for those that work at Treo.

The Golden Ears debt must be repaid by 2041 and the Port Mann is scheduled to be repaid by 2050. Horgan has not announced how he plans to pay back the debt, or make up the lost revenue. Speculation is he'll use the Prosperity Fund that was created by the Liberals.

The NDP campaigned on this, so it's not shocking they are taking steps to eliminate the tolls. What is shocking to me is that Weaver is on board. By eliminating the tolls, more people will drive. This will cause more pollution. The NDP said they want quicker traffic to downtown. By putting more cars on the road, it will have the opposite effect they want.

There's still no word on when the NDP will ban corporate donations to political parties. They said they'd do it as soon as they got into power. Instead, they have held fund raising golf parties.

With Petronas pulling out of coastal LNG the prosperity fund basically doesn't exist. I believe it is less than 500 million at this point.

If you cancelled site-c, you could eliminate the bridge tolls and still come out ahead.

Not surprising to me the Greens are on board with this. I don't think it will add to cars on the road, it just means less traffic diverting through New West. There still isn't what I would call 'frequent' and 'reliable' public transport for these commuters so I don't really see how it adds more cars to the road. There isn't really an alternative now, the same people will drive, they just won't take a more circuitous route through New West to do so.This may actually reduce the number of KMs driven by the same commuters.

[squiggs96]

Originally Posted by squiggs96

The NDP campaigned on this, so it's not shocking they are taking steps to eliminate the tolls. What is shocking to me is that Weaver is on board.

I incorrectly assumed Weaver was on board. Here is his statement on the tolls:

“It’s unfortunate that the government has decided to proceed with this reckless policy,” said Weaver.


“There is no question that the affordability crisis facing so many British Columbians is a significant concern. However, this policy is high cost and low impact. There are lots of good, high return-on-investments decisions that government can make, such as education, student housing and child care. It is disappointing that the first major measure that this government has taken to make life more affordable for British Columbians will add billions of dollars to taxpayer-supported debt. Moreover, making such a massive addition to our debt risks raising interest on all debt, which ultimately prevents government from being able to invest more in important social programs.


“Tolls are an excellent policy tool to manage transport demand. Transport demand management reduces pollution and emissions, alleviates congestion and helps pay for costly infrastructure. That’s why, at the negotiating table when preparing our Confidence and Supply Agreement, we ensured that a commitment was included to work with the Mayors’ Council consultation process to find a more fair and equitable way of funding transit for the long-term. We look forward to that commitment being met so that British Columbians can have an evidence-based, truly fair approach to this file.”

[Regorium]

Wow. Weaver isn't a complete and utter moron unlike the NDP.

Interesting.

[afc wimbledon]

Low tolls on every bridge in the lower mainland made sense but neither party had the balls to do that

[Flash Walken]

I'm wondering if this is an easy/effective way for the Greens to show their independence?

I know many of them would like to see places like downtown closed off completely or mostly to non commercial vehicles but I never heard much one way or the other about tolls.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

I know many of them would like to see places like downtown closed off completely or mostly to non commercial vehicles

Really? So then all ferry traffic from Horseshoe Bay and everyone living in West Van would be redirected over the second narrows, and the Lions Gate would be rendered obsolete? One way of diminishing property values on the North Shore, I suppose...

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Really? So then all ferry traffic from Horseshoe Bay and everyone living in West Van would be redirected over the second narrows, and the Lions Gate would be rendered obsolete? One way of diminishing property values on the North Shore, I suppose...

The idea being a toll like London has with the goal of reducing traffic enough you could change some of the main downtown streets to public transit or pedestrian only.

Some of the same people with those ideas helped to quiet some of the streets in the west end already like Jervis.

The city is already experimenting on the outside of this issue by limiting traffic going over Burrard by increasing bike capacity with separated lanes.

There are congestion points downtown and as you head into downtown that the city is actively trying to resolve. Increasing public transit access to downtown with the Canada line has created some unanticipated congestion headaches. Even though there aren't more cars on the road, vancouver traffic is getting worse. They're going to have to come up with some interesting solutions to fix it.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Yeah, I would agree with that goal too. It's just a challenge when you do have quite a few people coming from West Van and parts of North Van that really are commuter distances where you can't fault people for wanting to drive, and there's no easy way to do a park and ride because there's no LRT north of the inlet.

If you created an absolutely massive piece of parking infrastructure around Lonsdale Quay, spent millions upon millions in road upgrades and dock upgrades (not to mention new boats) to, let's say, quadruple the seabus schedule, that might be a solution that would get people there. But even as I type that, it sounds potentially non-feasible. It would be a pretty damned fun city planning problem to try to tackle, actually.

[Blaster86]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

If you created an absolutely massive piece of parking infrastructure around Lonsdale Quay, spent millions upon millions in road upgrades and dock upgrades (not to mention new boats) to, let's say, quadruple the seabus schedule, that might be a solution that would get people there. But even as I type that, it sounds potentially non-feasible. It would be a pretty damned fun city planning problem to try to tackle, actually.

The only place the parking could feasibly have gone now has two hotels on it.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Yeah, I would agree with that goal too. It's just a challenge when you do have quite a few people coming from West Van and parts of North Van that really are commuter distances where you can't fault people for wanting to drive, and there's no easy way to do a park and ride because there's no LRT north of the inlet.

If you created an absolutely massive piece of parking infrastructure around Lonsdale Quay, spent millions upon millions in road upgrades and dock upgrades (not to mention new boats) to, let's say, quadruple the seabus schedule, that might be a solution that would get people there. But even as I type that, it sounds potentially non-feasible. It would be a pretty damned fun city planning problem to try to tackle, actually.

Yeah, it will definitely require some creative solutions to tackle.

Vancouver's commitment to cycling infrastructure has really paid off. Population and job increases downtown without a corresponding increase in car traffic is a big deal.

[skudr248]

I am happy the toll's are eliminated, I drive across Port Mann twice a day to and from work

However, they may start up some mobility pricing.. will see how that is set up, gas prices here already suck ... ~$1.40 for regular.

[afc wimbledon]

Abbotsford South MLA Darryl Plecas just screwed the Liberals!!!
took the speaker of the house position

[CaptainCrunch]

http://vancouversun.com/news/politic...become-speaker

n June, Plecas told The Province he’d been approached for the job and wouldn’t do it without the support of his Liberal caucus. “The notion of us (the Liberals) putting up someone for Speaker under the current circumstances is ridiculous,” Plecas told columnist Mike Smyth at the time. “In fact, I would go further to say that it would be an outright manipulation of the democratic process.”

NDP Premier John Horgan said Plecas has “his full support” in the new job.

Good to see that he showed his level of integrity.

The Liberal MLAs refused to clap in the legislature as Plecas assumed the job Friday morning. Green leader Andrew Weaver said Coleman’s refusal to congratulate Plecas, the refusal of MLAs to clap, was “classless.” He said Plecas had integrity and is widely-respected among MLAs, and that the legislature will still be able to function.

Legible.

[Jacks]

Not surprising that Plecas took the job, he stands to benefit massively.

Option 1, don't take the speaker job.
* He stays at his $100K ish salary
* The government probably falls within a year, new election.
* He might get forced out of the next nomination due to his vocal criticism of Clark. Even if he wins the nomination he's not guaranteed to win the next election.
* He's only got 4 years of service and doesn't qualify for a pension unless he wins another election.

Option 2, take the speaker job.
* Get an immediate 50K ish bump in salary.
* Get a swanky office, extra staff, expenses etc.
* Have a stable job for at least 2 more years where he then qualifies for a full pension. Pension might even be higher since he was speaker, don't know the rules for sure around this.

He probably stands to make an extra million or so with option 2.

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by Jacks

Not surprising that Plecas took the job, he stands to benefit massively.

Option 1, don't take the speaker job.
* He stays at his $100K ish salary
* The government probably falls within a year, new election.
* He might get forced out of the next nomination due to his vocal criticism of Clark. Even if he wins the nomination he's not guaranteed to win the next election.
* He's only got 4 years of service and doesn't qualify for a pension unless he wins another election.

Option 2, take the speaker job.
* Get an immediate 50K ish bump in salary.
* Get a swanky office, extra staff, expenses etc.
* Have a stable job for at least 2 more years where he then qualifies for a full pension. Pension might even be higher since he was speaker, don't know the rules for sure around this.

He probably stands to make an extra million or so with option 2.

That and the province does need a stable Government and they have voted, all be it by a razor thin margin, for the NDP to run the province, its fairly easy to paint this as a noble act in the service of democracy

[chemgear]

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

That and the province does need a stable Government and they have voted, all be it by a razor thin margin, for the NDP to run the province, its fairly easy to paint this as a noble act in the service of democracy

Actually they voted, by a razor thin margin, for the Liberals to run the province.

[Tinordi]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Actually they voted, by a razor thin margin, for the Liberals to run the province.

Sigh, no they didn't.

No party received 50% of the vote.

[Resolute 14]

Yes, Tinordi. We all know you're special, and we both know you knew what I meant.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

That and the province does need a stable Government and they have voted, all be it by a razor thin margin, for the NDP to run the province, its fairly easy to paint this as a noble act in the service of democracy

Getting the second most number of seats means you were elected to run the province now?

#Trumping