THEVOICE |

2

Mayors
debate
transit
changes

Students seek support
for promised Sky Train
line along Broadway to
UBC campus

™ By CLOE LOGAN

tudents need to have a voice
S: transportation decisions in

the Lower Mainland, says one
University of B.C. student who is
working with the new TransLink
mayors council.

“The [UBC student society] is
working to connect with regional
partners and the new mayors to
ensure that all play a shared role in
bringing this critical infrastructure
to fruition and that students are in-
cluded as stakeholders throughout
the process,” said Cristina IInitchi,
the vice-president of external affairs
at UBC Alma Mater Society.

She spoke in favour of the new
SkyTrain extension, now being
planned, which will run along
Broadway from VCC-Clark station
to Arbutus Street on Vancouver’s
west side.

Her comments came at an inau-
gural meeting where the new may-
ors’ council endorsed the TransLink
board’s decision to suspend work
on a light-rail line in Surrey. The
decision came after Surrey’s new
council voted to cancel the project.
‘The mayors voted to instruct staff
to look at the business case and
planning needed for a SkyTrain
line instead.

‘The decision will have implica-
tions for many students in the re-
gion, since a SkyTrain line in Sur-
rey could make it easier for students
south of the Fraser to get to Simon
Fraser University and UBC. On the
other hand, the light-rail line was
meant to help connect the main
neighbourhoods in Surrey, and the
loss of that line means students
who attend Surrey-based schools
like Kwantlen Polytechnic Univer-
sity and the SFU Surrey campus
have no hope for immediate transit
improvements.

Richmond Mayor Malcolm
Brodie stressed that the decision
to halt construction on the Surrey
light-rail line should not mean any
changes to other projects.

Brodie was especially vocal about
his concerns with Surrey’s recent
decision. He said that a new city
council doesn’t mean old decisions
can be undone, and that it hasn't
worked like that in the past — as
his own council experienced when
the Canada Line was built through
the city’s downtown.“[Richmond’s]
city council wanted something at
ground level, and TransLink didn’t
come back and just flip the switch
and say, ‘OK, we will go with the
planning, design and procurement
for a ground-level system,” he said.
“This approach is setting a very,
very dangerous precedent.”

Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum
said the public doesn't want LRT.
He said there wasn't thorough pub-
lic consultation.

“There is no support in the city of
Surrey for light rail. The only peo-
ple that we do run into that support
light rail is some of the business
community,” he said.

THURSDAY, NOV. 22,2018 |

EDITOR NEIL AMSLER

Categorical

De facto party

risdale Community Centre. ROXANE EGAN-ELLIOTT PHOTO

Debate examines PR vote

Yes and No sides make pitches at Kerrisdale event

= By ROXANNE
EGAN-ELLIOTT

ith 18 per cent of

B.C’s proportional

representation refer-

endum ballots cast as
of Nov. 16, Kerrisdale Community
Centre held a debate to give both
sides a chance to present their argu-
ments on electoral reform.

B.C. is holding a referendum on
whether to keep the current elec-
toral system or move to one of three
proportional representation models.
Mail-in ballots must be received in
Victoria by Nov. 30. This year’s vote
is the third time British Columbi-

ans have voted on electoral reform
since 2005.

About 30 people attended the
debate moderated by Richard John-
ston, a UBC professor who studies
electoral systems.

Antony Hodgson, president of
Fair Voting BC, told the audience
the current system is not as fair as
it could be, citing cases across the
country in which parties formed
majority governments with only 40
per cent of votes or less.

“If you really believe in democra-
cy you have to favour the inclusion
of more voices in our democratic
process,” Hodgson said.

Former Liberal MLA Suzanne

Atlarge

enn
ay

UBC professor Richard Johnston moderated a debate on B.C/s electoral reform referendum. The debate, which attracted about 30 people, was held at the Ker-

Anton, who represents the No BC
Proportional Representation So-
ciety, criticized those in favour of
proportional representation. She
said the idea of political parties
working together in the province is
“a fairy tale.”

“We have a demonstrated history
in the province of non-consensus
and that’s not going to change,” An-
ton said. “I’m not even sure it should
change. I think it is very healthy to
have a government and opposition
to have your ideas tested.”

Hodgson countered Anton’s
statement saying, “We could be do-
ing better but we're not because of
partisan infighting.”

He noted Canada’s ranking on
the UN Human Development In-
dex. Once sitting at the top of the
list, Canada is currently 12th on the
index. Nearly all of the countries
with higher rankings than Canada
use some form of proportional rep-
resentation.

Ivy Li, who attended the debate,
said she felt that Johnston and
Hodgson were trying to provide the
facts in a conversation that is nor-
mally full of rhetoric and fearmon-
gering.

“I’m very interested to look at the
electoral reform and see how we can
make our government better,” Li
said.

New casino a bad bet for some

Controversial
project would be
first of its kind
for Delta

= By CAMERON THOMSON

elta city council’s approval
D of the municipality's first

casino remains a divisive
topic with some residents saying
it doesn't fit with the community’s
ideals.

On Nov. 13, Gateway Casinos
received approval from the Brit-
ish Columbia Lottery Commis-
sion to build a $70-million casino
and hotel facility. Delta council
had approved the project in May
2018 and a nod from the commis-
sion was the only thing the project
needed before construction could
start. The 124-room hotel and ca-
sino will be built near the George
Massey Tunnel on Highway 17A.

Delta residents have been divid-
ed on the project since 2016, when
the lottery commission submitted
an expression of interest to Delta
to replace a Surrey casino by add-

ing one in Delta.

According to Delta public hear-
ing minutes on May 1 2018, five
people spoke in support of the
project and 14 people spoke in op-
position.

“Pretty much everyone is op-
posed to it. They just feel like it’s
not the right kind of development
that Delta should be looking at,”
said Evelyn Funk, who is part of
a current-events club where mem-
bers have debated the casino pro-
posal. “People in Tsawwassen or
Delta feel that this decision was
made to go ahead with the casino
long before the public hearings

ever started.”

Funk also said that throughout
the public hearings she attended,
many residents of Delta present-
ed the council with arguments
against the casino.

But previous Delta mayor
turned councillor Lois Jackson is
more focused on the hotel aspect
of the project.

“T really felt, when we first saw
this, that the hotel was some-
thing we really needed for Delta.
We have between 102,000 and
106,000 people and we have one
hotel in Tsawwassen. ‘There’s
nothing north Delta unless you go
to Guildford,” Jackson said.

Jackson said Delta was not the

only driver behind the project.

“The final decision was not
ours,” Jackson said. “It was up to
the province and it’s going to be
going ahead fairly soon.”

The casino has also faced criti-
cism from neighbouring cities.
Richmond Mayor Malcolm Bro-
die said that his council remains
opposed to the casino.

“Our opinion hasn’t changed.
This is a relocation from Newton
and it seems very odd to take a
casino from Newton and put it in
south Delta,” Brodie said.

Construction of the casino will
begin in early 2019 and is expect-
ed to open in mid-2020.

An artist's rendering of a newly approved casino and hotel to be built in Delta. suswitTep intusTRATION