The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is a strange beast.
It exists to bash any and all attempts to raise taxes, and to call attention to wasteful government spending. And sometimes that sends it down weird rabbit holes of stupidity.
Take the recent case of TransLink芒鈧劉s proposed 0.5 per cent hike of the PST. We芒鈧劉re going to get to vote on this sometime next spring, in a region-wide referendum. The provincial government will be staying neutral, but business groups and unions are forming a Yes lobby already. On the No side are a lot of people who hate TransLink on principle, and the Taxpayers Federation.
TransLink wants the money to expand transit service, of course. More buses, more light rail in Surrey and out to 91原创, money for bike lanes and pedestrian improvements.
But the Taxpayers Federation reminds us that TransLink hasn芒鈧劉t always been the best custodian of cash, calling it 芒鈧揳 stunningly bad record of waste.芒鈧�
I have no argument with the fact that TransLink is badly managed 芒鈧�� their CEO is vastly overpaid for the job he is doing 芒鈧�� or that it is badly governed. In fact, let芒鈧劉s take a moment to remember some of TransLink芒鈧劉s greatest hits!
Broken down SkyTrains! Blaming trapped riders for making the problem worse instead of actually fixing the trains! Overpaid executives! A system of governance so needlessly complex it would make the court eunuchs of ancient Byzantium weep! Some of the highest paid police in the country! And in the big tent, the Compass Card system 芒鈧�� massively over budget, behind schedule, hopelessly mired in technological bugs! A big hand, folks, it芒鈧劉s TransLink芒鈧劉s biggest blunder to date!
叠耻迟芒鈧�
The Taxpayers Federation芒鈧劉s position has two, closely related parts: 1) TransLink is wasteful and generally messed up (true) so 2) we should not give them any more money.
芒鈧揑nstead of finding efficiencies, TransLink Mayors want your family to pay $258 more in sales tax every year,芒鈧� says the Taxpayers Federation芒鈧劉s call to action.
The problem is the word 芒鈧揺fficiencies.芒鈧� They芒鈧劉re implying that we can find enough money to expand transit if we dig into the couch cushions and maybe fire some executive vice-presidents of made up do-nothing jobs.
You know what? I芒鈧劉m all for house cleaning. Hell, I芒鈧劉ll even put some of the Taxpayers Fed guys on a task force! Let 芒鈧劉em loose with a dozen meat-fed forensic accountants hungry for blood. Drag Victoria芒鈧劉s legislators kicking the screaming down here to clean up their mess. Let芒鈧劉s do it now!
And from that we芒鈧劉ll save how much? Maybe $5 million a year? If we芒鈧劉re very, very lucky, maybe we could find $10 or even $20 million in efficiencies? Nothing to sneeze at, but it芒鈧劉s not enough.
We need enough to buy a whole lot of buses, to pay an expanded roster of bus drivers, mechanics, cleaners, and maintenance workers. We need serious capital cash to start building more rail lines.
Seriously, what芒鈧劉s the alternative? We are drowning in fast-growing new communities, especially South of the Fraser in Surrey and 91原创. We planned for transit, and transit never came. The Port Mann expansion has helped, but we芒鈧劉re choking on local gridlock, and students, the elderly, and the poor have little to no mobility across vast stretches of the Lower Mainland.
It芒鈧劉s good to have a critical voice when TransLink is wasting money. But the Taxpayers Federation needs to offer its own plan. Because right now, it looks like it simply doesn芒鈧劉t care how, or if, we ever get better transit service at all.
