VANCOUVER -- The Conservatives promised Monday to provide up to $700 million towards the $2.1-billion Surrey light rapid transit proposal.
The announcement was made in Surrey former Surrey mayor Dianne Watts, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s star candidate in South Surrey-White Rock, and by James Moore, the B.C. regional minister who is retiring from politics.
Harper planned to announce his party’s commitment earlier this month, but that was derailed when the shocking photograph of a drowned Syrian boy on a beach in Turkey shifted national attention to the Syrian refugee crisis.
Fast-growing Surrey is one of Canada’s key battlegrounds heading into the Oct. 19 vote, so Moore and Watts were accompanied by four other Tory candidates in the area.
“Light Rail Transit will shape our city, spur economic growth and connect communities”, Watts said in a prepared statement.
“By reducing congestion, it will also contribute to regional economic growth and prosperity, by allowing businesses to get their products to market faster and more easily.”
The money will come from the new Public Transit Fund, which provides funds for cities proposing $1 billion-plus transit projects.
The fund starts slowly, providing just $750 million across Canada over two years starting in 2017-18.
But it then ramps up to $1 billion a year in 2019-20 for “public transit projects that can improve the mobility of goods and people and provide broad economic and social benefits to Canadian cities.”
It remains unclear whether Vancouver, which is seeking funding for a $2.4 billion subway along the Broadway corridor, will get a similar commitment.
The city of Vancouver is far less fertile ground for the Conservatives, or the B.C. Liberal government, than Surrey.
The Conservative candidates are also expected Monday to take aim at Liberal leader Justin Trudeau, following the release by the Tories of a recording of his comments in July about Bill C-24.
That’s the new law that lets the government strip convicted terrorists who are dual citizens of their Canadian citizenship, and then deport them.
“The Liberal Party believes that terrorists should get to keep their Canadian citizenship, because I do,” Trudeau said at a public meeting in Winnipeg.
The Liberals indicated earlier this month — without making commitments on specific projects— that it would commit $20 billion over 10 years for infrastructure projects like the Surrey and Vancouver transit proposals.
There has long been expectation that the project would be split three ways between Ottawa, the province and TransLink. However, investment by TransLink was thrown into doubt when a proposed 0.5-per-cent sales tax to fund transit was voted down in the spring.
An economics benefits report, conducted by Sirocca Consulting on behalf of the city, suggested light rail lines in Surrey would attract investment in the City Centre, generate higher-value jobs and diversify the city’s labour force over 30 years.
The proposal for the light rail lines includes a 10.9-kilometre L-shaped line linking Guildford Town Centre, Surrey City Centre and Newton Town Centre, and a 17.1-kilometre line between Surrey City Centre and the centre of the city of Langley. A later phase could go deep into South Surrey.
Electrically powered trains on three arterials would serve up to 7,500 riders per direction per hour, travelling down the centre of King George Boulevard, 104 Avenue and Fraser Highway in their own dedicated lanes at speeds similar to vehicle traffic. There would be about 20 stations with platforms built into the street.
Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner has previously said provincial transportation minister Todd Stone indicated the province will contribute a third of the cost.
After the proposed sales tax to fund transit was defeated, Hepner suggested funds could be redirected to the LRT project by tapping Surrey’s share of the regional gas tax. She has said almost $65 million of TransLink’s 17 cents-per-litre gas tax is paid in Surrey each year, plus there is another $15 million in federal gas tax that goes from Surrey to TransLink. She has also suggested a private partner could be enlisted to finance the project.
Hepner did not return calls on Sunday night.
The Liberals did not put a dollar figure on their offer. Surrey-Newton Liberal candidate Sukh Dhaliwal said on Sept. 9 the Liberals are committed to providing an additional $20 billion for public transit funding over the next decade for the country’s top regional priorities. Without specifying a dollar amount, he said “Surrey is well-placed to secure B.C.’s first funding commitment under the Liberal plan.”
The event took place at the facilities of Concord Pacific Development Inc., a real estate development company which has a major stake in Surrey’s future.
The company touted those plans when it opened a $2.5 million presentation centre near the Surrey Central SkyTrain station.
“With 70 per cent of population growth to be south of the Fraser River, we felt it important to expand beyond Vancouver,” Grant Murray, vice-president of sales for Concord Pacific, said in a Georgia Straight report.
“Surrey, in particular, we feel will go very high density.”
