The Free Press reported that "Premier John Horgan has acted on another of his key election promises, announcing that tolls will be lifted from the Port Mann and Golden Ears bridges effective Sept. 1." That day has come. Now that's what I'm talking about. I support the freedom to move. In fact mobility rights are entrenched in the Canadian Charter of Rights.
The first spin people complain about is asking how the NDP are going to pay for it? Wait 'til I tell ye. The first thing they can do to save money is to get rid of the American private company collecting the tolls. The only reason a private company will collect tolls is to make a profit. That's why they kept the toll on the Coquihalla long after it was paid for. Getting rid of that firm will save taxpayers money.
The Lion's Gate bridge used to be tolled. Now it's paid for. You can't put a toll on bridge after it has already been paid for. That's just another tax grab. Politicians are gluttons. The more they tax the more they spend. How about reducing services so we can lower taxes? Let's start with the Metro Vancouver's Glutton Council. That wasteful duplication of services is mandated to burn tax dollars like an incinerator. It needs to be disbanded.
The next thing that needs to go is Translink's tax and spend think tank. Translink already burns an extra billion dollars a years in a regional gas tax. No private company would be able to function going a billion dollars over budget year after year. That fraud needs to be fixed. Getting rid of the tax and spend think tank is the first step. They are a waste of money.
The final step to recover lost revenue is to fix the BC Hydro fraud. We need contract back in the private power brokers that sell power to the public company at above market rates. That will save taxpayers billions. While we're at it BC and Alberta need to nationalize their oil resources like ICBC. Letting Communist China have the profits from our natural resources is insane.
We can still keep all the private Canadian oil contractors. We just need to take back the ownership of our oil from Communist China. That would increase tax revenue and reduce debt on a steady basis. That would be good business. Peace.
You are starting to sound like a conservative, Agent K. Those are all great ideas to save the province some money.
ReplyDeleteSadly, Horgan will just put larger taxes on other things to compensate for getting rid of the tools. What is happening is nothing more than political sleight of hand.
This new government will drive business away and need to tax the people even more to make up for lostnrevenue--all while they will spend more.
The first budget is tonight be a wake up call for the province.
I was Reform until they merged with Brian Mulroney's tax and spend pork barrel politics. That's when I jumped shipped. They merged with the very entity they were created to fix.
DeleteI'm sick and tired of the neocon. People say the sky is falling the NDP *will* tax and spend when that is exactly what the neocons have been doing at unprecedented levels. Record debt, record fraud. Every time the NDP lowers taxes for small businesses the neocons cry oh but they will raise taxes somewhere else. I'm sick and tied of the same old lie.
The neocons do not support small business. The NDP do. Who would have seen that one coming. If you are a conservative and care about the country then read the book None Dare Call it Conspiracy. The neocons are the corporate Communists not the NDP: http://www.whale.to/b/allen_b1.html
it is good the tolls have been taken off of the two bridges. They took money out of working people's pockets Yes, there are those wailing about how will the government make up the difference. Interesting some of those weren't wailing while el gordo signed the IPP contracts or Christy handed out royality pay backs to resource extractors or let mining billionaires not pay their electricity bills.
ReplyDeleteWe can pay for bridges and highways the way we used to: income taxes. Most of the large projects in this province were built using general revenue. There was no toll on the first Port Mann nor was there on the original Bennett Bridge. However, el gordo wanting not to show deficiets on the provincial books hired private enterprise to build and "maintain" highways, road, hospitals, etc. what that enabled him to do was have it not show up on the books all at once.
tolling bridges is something which comes from those who want "the users to pay". that unfortunately places a more onerous burden on those with less money. If you have money, paying the toll is not big deal. Having an average pay job with a mortgage, and kids makes it a big deal, yet whether we use the bridge, highway, etc. or not we all benefit. Big business even if it never uses that highway have employees, trades, customers, vendors who all use that highway/bridge and thus we should all pay for it via general revenue which comes from income tax.
Tolls place an unfair burden on those at the bottom of the economic scale.
The Lions Gate bridge was tolled by the original owners to make money.> It was actually a private bridge meant to open the realestate market the family owned on the north shore. Eventually WAC Bennett decided the province ought to own the bridge, bought it, tolled it and then eventually took it off a number of years later.
The Oak St. Bridge was tolled for awhile until a provincial election where the Socred running, Ernie Lecoeur told the voters of Richmond if they voted for him the tolls would come off, They did, and they did. A weekly pass at that time was $1.
There was no further tolling until the Coqu. The people who worked in those toll boths and the bridge toll booths were all employees of the provincial government. el gordo removed the tolls on the Coqo because as it was said or believed at the time, he was going to the mayor's conference for B.C. and had really nothing to "give" them and so he gained their "devotion" by announcing at their meeting he was removing the toll.
We have heard Andrew Weaver wailing away about removing the tolls, partly sighting declining funds for government and of course people would use their cars instead of rapid transit. of course Andrew Weaver lives in the Victoria area and works their also. its much nicer being an aging baby boomer than being a Gen.X or millennial. Taking transit takes much too long to get to work. Driving is faster and people want to be able to spend time with their families not on some hot bus or sky train.
Taking the toll off of the Port Mann Bridge may actually save the province money because some of the traffic which was shifting west, may now use the Port Mann. that new bridge had fewer users than the old Port Mann. With more traffic using the existing Port Mann there maybe no need for the 10 lane wonder replacing the tunnel.
People will not longer have to pay tolls saving approx. $1500 a year and truckers may be saving up to $4,500 a year. that is a lot of money for a lot of people.
it really is time the government stopped privitizing bridges, roads, hospitals, etc.
Removing the toll is good for small business. Speaking of zen moments, I can't tell you how peaceful it is riding across the Port Mann bridge now. I'm not so angry and bitter taking a detour over the Patella bridge because Treo f*cked me over on a huge bill they wrongfully overcharged me on and refused to correct. Now when I cross the bridge I'm at peace and feel the freedom to move.
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