You can knock off all the TransLink executives you want, but it won’t do a darned thing to fix the two major problems facing the regional transit authority.
They would be: a lack of long-term capital financing and an unacceptably undemocratic governance structure.
You may believe that unloading executive vice-president Bob Paddon and B.C. Rapid Transit Company president and general manager Doug Kelsey this week are steps in the right direction. After all, Kelsey was responsible for the implementation of the Compass Card Program, which is, after almost five years, still not done. And Paddon is the guy who was supposed to keep an eye on TransLink’s image, and that has only gone downhill since the 2010 Olympic Games.
Paddon, we should note, will not be replaced in what has been reported as his $276,000-a-year job. Kelsey will be replaced at $335,000.
You might take delight in public sector people who make more than you ever will getting the axe; even more so if they are not replaced, seeing this as a significant savings of your tax dollars. People who supported the No side in the disastrous plebiscite may celebrate this, ignoring warnings that, as a result of the vote, existing transit services will have to be cut and promised ones not implemented.
But seriously folks, in TransLink’s 2014 budget with $1.5 billion dollars in expenditures, a couple of executive salaries amount to bupkis, or what an accountant might refer to as “not material.”
And none of this gets to the root problems that regional mayors have been on about and Christy Clark’s Liberal government continues to ignore. By the way, have you heard one peep from the premier about the plebiscite since we got results? It was her idea. But then, so was that downward facing dog debacle on the Burrard Bridge along with her tweet addressed to those who opposed her as “Yoga Haters.”
I’m told her staff thought it best to send her off on vacation to keep her away from microphones and cameras for a while.
But it is utterly irresponsible to say, as she has, that TransLink is broke and then do nothing about it. The B.C. Liberals created this mess, and Clark is just the latest premier to pretend it is not her problem.
It was back in 2007 when Gordon Campbell was the Liberal premier and Kevin Falcon was his minister responsible for transportation that the current TransLink structure was created. It grew out of the province’s frustration over regional politicians taking their time on deciding whether to push the Canada Line proposed by the province ahead of the Evergreen Line, which was the top regional priority at the time.
We now have a board of directors, admittedly with two local mayors added recently. But, as a result of the legislation Falcon introduced, it is a board that effectively determines its own replacements and is responsible to no one, not the regional government of Metro, not the TransLink Mayors Council and not the provincial government.
While we wait for the province to act or watch as they continue to stall, matters are being made more complex by the actions and statements of Surrey’s Mayor Linda Hepner.
She was the one who, during the plebiscite campaign, assured the good people of Surrey that no matter what the plebiscite outcome, she would deliver light rail by the end of her first term. Thanks to a deal struck by her predecessor Dianne Watts, as part of her agreement to run as a Tory in next October’s federal election, Hepner expects an announcement shortly from Ottawa (to be matched by Victoria) giving her a chunk of change so she can go ahead.
Hepner also says she wants the portion of Surrey’s gas tax, which all Metro mayors agreed would fund TransLink, to come back to her for her transit project.
You can bet that Metro’s mayors will not support that because if public transit is in trouble now for operating funds, well, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
North Vancouver mayor Darrell Mussatto is likely not alone in again expressing his frustration over all of the above and threatening to quit the TransLink Mayors’ Council.
Between funding and governance problems he says: “We are falling behind and we’re going to completely fall off the map.”
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@allengarr
