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Today's Big Story

Translink Democracy Derailed

Political appointees to replace elected reps.

Andrew MacLeod 30 Nov 2007TheTyee.ca

Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee's legislative bureau chief in Victoria.
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The B.C. Liberal government used its majority to pass a bill Nov. 29 that replaces TransLink's democratically-elected board with one composed of political appointees. The governance change could be in place as soon as Jan. 1.

The attack on democracy had transportation groups, unions and the NDP hammering on the "Stop Requested" button. As the NDP's Norm Macdonald, the MLA for Columbia River-Revelstoke, put it during the debate in the legislature Thursday, "What every person who sits in here should believe is that proper decisions are made in the open. They are made by democratically-elected representatives of the people, and those representatives are held directly accountable to the people whose money they take and spend." The Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority Amendment Act, 2007, will reduce TransLink's accountability, he said.

Speaking for the government, Langley MLA Mary Polak argued that in her time in public life she's heard nothing but complaints from people about TransLink. "They've said things like, 'What a mess,' and 'Oh, please blow it up,'" she said. "To speak now about this new governance model and address it as being somehow less accountable than the TransLink that currently exists is absolutely laughable for anyone who lives in the Lower Mainland."

TransLink might have issues, responded the NDP's David Chudnovsky, MLA for Vancouver-Kensington, but all that "bickering" as Polak called it is democracy in motion. "Those folks found a way, despite the fact that they came from a whole number of municipalities," he said, "to figure out a transportation plan for the Lower Mainland."

And it's not just the official opposition who dislike the government's plan. A Society Promoting Environmental Conservation (SPEC) news release compared the new TransLink board to Chinese-style dictatorship. "There has been a groundswell of opposition to the changes to TransLink," says the release. "Groups ranging from SPEC, Western Canada Wilderness Committee, Gatewaysucks.org, Keeptranslinkpublic.ca and the Council of Canadians have all lined up against Bill 43."

A Facebook group of people opposed to the move has attracted over 2,300 members. Liberal Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon almost certainly isn't one of them.

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