Richard Walton: How to fund regional public transportation – Mar 1
Carbon Talks will host a dialogue with Mayor Richard Walton, Chair of TransLink’s Mayor’s Council.
On February 5th, Richard Walton announced that the Council will be putting forward recommendations to the province, including a minor sales tax of 0.5% as one possible sustainable funding solution. Other short-term funding options include reviving the vehicle levy and using carbon tax revenue from future increases.
At this Carbon Talk, Mayor Walton will speak to his work advocating for practical solutions to fund regional public transportation infrastructure.
When: Friday March 1, 12:30 – 1:30 pm
Where: SFU Harbour Centre Room 1700, 515 West Hastings St
Live Webcast at http://creative-services.sfu.ca/broadcast (Registration is not required for watching the webcast)
UPDATE:
- Here’s Stephen Rees’s take on the funding options and the futility of it all.
- Richard Campbell provides an update from Ontario, where things are moving:
Party leaders in Ontario now are tripping over themselves to support transit AND more importantly, new taxes to pay for transit. After Premier Wynne announced such support a couple of weeks ago, Hudak, the leader of the Conservatives has followed.Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak pledged sweeping change to Toronto’s transportation network, promising to merge the subway, GO trains and local expressways into a single system. He also left the door open to new taxes, tolls or fees to pay for transit expansion.
Public open to tax for Metrolinx
Toronto’s history is littered with the ghosts of ambitious transit plans that foundered on the question of who should pay.
But as Metrolinx tests the public waters looking for ways to fund the next $34-billion in transit projects, they are finding a willingness among residents to pony up. Although the head of the provincial government agency acknowledges that those attending their sessions are a small slice of the population, these people suggest that taxes and tolls are no longer politically toxic.
At a public consultation on the weekend, a number of participants suggested that a small increase in the sales tax would be the quickest and fairest way to raise the most money.
