VANCOUVER – New Democrat spokesperson on TransLink George Heyman attended the kick-off event for the group supporting a “yes” in the TransLink referendum. He offered the following statement:

“Transit is an important service for everyone; that includes people who drive, who will benefit from decreased congestion. Unfortunately, new investment in transit in Metro Vancouver has been unnecessarily and damagingly delayed.

“Premier Christy Clark and Transportation Minister Todd Stone have abandoned their responsibility by calling for the referendum in the first place instead of working with elected mayors to find the right solutions for new investment as they had previously committed. Then they flip-flopped on the tax proposal, before agreeing, one month too late, to the very plan the mayors had initially submitted. We can’t even get a straight answer directly from the premier on how she’s voting.

“Today, we need the B.C. Liberals to show they will face the public’s concerns about efficiency and good management by bringing real reform to the unaccountable TransLink board they created, and the premier needs to assure Metro Vancouver residents that her government will contribute its share of new costs if voters agree to pay ours.”