They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but it’s hard to be flattered when Carole James and the NDP steal the BC Liberal transit plan outright. Today Carole James made a series of embarrassing and disingenuous re-announcements attempting to take credit for things the BC Liberals have already announced and the NDP already voted against.
May 7, 2009
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but it’s hard to be flattered when Carole James and the NDP steal the BC Liberal transit plan outright. Today Carole James made a series of embarrassing and disingenuous re-announcements attempting to take credit for things the BC Liberals have already announced and the NDP already voted against.
It has become fairly common for the NDP to re-announce government initiatives.
But they took it to a whole new level today as the NDP re-announced an earlier re-announcement.
The BC Liberals revealed on April 28th at the NDP’s first re-announcement of the BC Liberal transit policy that the NDP were again making unfunded commitments and flat-out copying BC Liberal initiatives. It appears Carole James and the NDP did not get this information last time.
So here are the facts again:
NDP Commitment: “a 15-per-cent transit fare rollback”
The Facts:
- This is a completely unfunded commitment.
- On April 28th Carole James said the cost of this commitment was $21 million, which is $3 million more than the NDP actually budgeted for “Fee Freezes and Rollbacks” in their platform (NDP Platform, Page 52).
- The actual cost of this commitment would be more than $55 million, according to TransLink’s 2009 estimates for transit fare revenue:
- Clearly this is yet another dishonest and unfunded commitment from the NDP that they have no ability to meet.
- Furthermore, the NDP’s claim that B.C. has the highest transit fares in the country is patently false: Today’s one-zone fare in Metro Vancouver is $2.50 compared to $2.75 in Montreal and Toronto and $3.00 in Ottawa.
NDP Commitment: “The NDP will deliver 500 new buses through a $400-million cash infusion over the next three years.”
The Facts:
- This is a re-announcement of a BC Liberal commitment.
- The BC Liberal Transit Plan includes $2.8 billion for nine Rapid Bus projects in high urban growth areas and 1,500 new buses to expand transit service across the province.
- The NDP voted against funding for the provincial transit plan.
NDP Commitment: “Build the Evergreen Line now.”
The Facts:
- This is a re-announcement of a BC Liberal commitment.
- The NDP committed to build the Evergreen Line in 1999. This was patently dishonest commitment and the NDP never even started the project.
- The BC Liberals have already secured funding, opened the project office, and announced that the $1.4 billion project will begin construction next year.
- Carole James and the NDP voted against funding for the Evergreen Line and NDP Mayor Derek Corrigan has described the project as “a shameful waste of taxpayers’ money.”
NDP Commitment: $20 million to “expand the West Coast Express commuter rail by adding new cars and trains.”
The Facts:
- This is a re-announcement of a BC Liberal commitment.
- The BC Liberals already announced a $27.7-million expansion of West Coast Express just over one month ago, which included seven additional cars and station upgrades.
- Carole James and the NDP voted against this funding.
- It’s clear that the NDP are simply out of ideas and have now resorted to re-announcing their own re-announcements of BC Liberal commitments. The NDP transit plan is a litany of commitments they’ve already voted against, and funding promises their platform shows they have no ability to keep. British Columbians deserve better.
