Metro Vancouver residents have rejected a tax increase to pay for expanded transit service, according to plebiscite results from Elections BC.
Elections BC says 61.68 per cent per cent of voters were against the new tax, compared to 38.32 per cent in favour.
Of the 23 municipalities that voted, all but three rejected the tax increase, including Vancouver, Surrey and the region's largest municipalities.
Only Bowen Island, the Village of Belcarra and Metro Vancouver Electoral Area "A" voted in favour of the tax.
The plebiscite asked voters whether they supported a 0.5 per cent addition to the provincial sales tax, which would raise $250 million annually toward TransLink's plan 10-year plan to generate $7.5 billion for expanded service, including more buses, better road maintenance, a subway along the Broadway corridor in Vancouver and light rail in Surrey.
"This is a tremendous victory for taxpayers, our underdog No TransLink Tax campaign and the Canadian Taxpayers Federation," said Jordan Bateman, No TransLink Tax spokesperson.
"Our campaign didn't have millions of taxpayer dollars or fancy CEOs committing their groups to our cause - we had everyday taxpayers who simply believe TransLink wastes too much of our money to be trusted with any more of it. This is a win for all of us.”
Elections BC says 759,696 valid ballots were received in the plebiscite from 23 municipalities, between March 16 and May 29. That equates into 48.64 per cent of eligible voters in the region.
Among the highlights:
- Vancouver residents voted 50.81 per cent against the tax.
- Surrey residents voted 65.54 per cent against the tax.
- Burnaby voted 64.94 per cent against the tax.
- The City of Maple Ridge had the highest opposition, with 77.03 per cent voting against the tax, followed by the Township of Langley (74.97 per cent), Richmond (72.39 per cent) and the City of Langley (72.29 per cent)
The region-wide vote on the future of transit was promised by Premier Christy Clark in the 2013 provincial election, though her government has since been accused of offloading responsibility for the expensive transit issue onto regional mayors.
Clark and Transportation Minister Todd Stone have said they'll respect the outcome of the vote.
"The YES side tried everything — spending millions in taxpayer money, crafting rules to favour their side, putting an ad on the ballot itself, and using their political offices to try and quash any dissent," said Bateman. "They had big business, big government, big labour, big environment and big money. But they didn't have the people — and this victory belongs to those everyday taxpayers who volunteered their time, spoke with their friends and neighbours, worked social media, made their own signs, and chipped in a few dollars to help us. They deserve better from the leadership of this region, and they let their voice be heard with their ballot."
Interim TransLink CEO Doug Allen issued a video statement.
"This is democracy, one accepts a yes or a no, the fact it's a no, it's not my preference but that's the will of those who voted and we must respect that," said Allen.
"We must recognize however that it will not be easy because we will not be able to expand, our revenue base essentially will be flat or falling and we'll simply have to do a lot of things better in order to provide the kind of service we've been providing to date."
The Better Transit and Transportation Coalition said it was disappointed with the result.
"We're disappointed and concerned about the impact of this result on our region's livability," says Peter Robinson, Co-Chair and David Suzuki Foundation CEO.
"It's impossible to say exactly why people voted no," said Gavin McGarrigle, BTTC Co-Chair and Unifor BC Area Director.
"It's unfortunate that the real issue of how we can get much-needed improvements became mixed up with issues introduced around TransLink. Despite all the distractions, residents know that our traffic gridlock crisis is a huge problem in need of an immediate solution."
Opposition NDP leader John Horgan put the blame on the premier.
"There's not a person that I've met that thought this was a good idea, not one, except the premier of British Columbia and now that failure in my opinion rests squarely at her feet," said Horgan.
He said Clark failed to lead the Yes side and should immediately sit down with metro mayors to figure out a new plan.
He also said the public was clearly unsatisfied with TransLink's and lacked confidence in its leadership.
The Metro Vancouver mayors' council and TransLink spent $5.8 million of taxpayers' money to promote a Yes vote in the plebiscite. The No side was led by Bateman. It spent $39,688 and argued TransLink could not be trusted to properly handle more public funding.
