In the wake of our massive No TransLink Tax plebiscite victory, some remnants of the YES side have gotten bitter and angry. They’re calling people names on social media, claiming the end of the world is upon us, and making up the most ridiculous lies.

Here are six common mistruths they are spreading.

1. NO means service cuts!

Let’s see what TransLink CEO Doug Allen told The Vancouver Sun six days before the vote result was known:

TransLink passengers will likely see reduced service across the system next year, whether or not Metro Vancouver residents support or reject a 0.5 per cent sales tax increase to fund transportation expansion.

Interim CEO Doug Allen said the transportation authority will look at “service optimization” — moving buses from lower-performing routes such as Port Coquitlam to those with higher demand such as Vancouver’s Broadway — even if the recent plebiscite passes.

“In some areas, if you can get more passengers, or more ridership, then you’re better off,” Allen said following TransLink’s annual general meeting on Friday.

2. There’s no Plan B for anything!

Front page of The Province the day after: NO Means YES in Surrey. As we said many times during the campaign, Surrey has been working on a Plan B for years. Actually, this tax may have been the real Plan B – Surrey has been working with the federal government to do a public-private partnership on its light rail system for years. This fall, we’ll see all the federal party leaders come to Surrey to announce support for their light rail. The Province is already on board.

Under the plan, the Pattullo was going to be a toll bridge. It didn’t need the tax to proceed. A new bridge could start immediately; the Province has already announced it will fund its portion.

The only big project with no Plan B is Mayor Gregor Robertson’s Arbutus Subway. That’s a failure of his leadership after ten years in power – not a failure of regional taxpayers for not giving him enough of our money.

3. The NO side has no ideas/alternatives/better suggestions!

Throughout the campaign, we offered a better plan called, apporpriately, “A Better Plan.” Check it out here: www.notranslinktax.ca/betterplan. Plus, we put out this op/ed on Thursday afternoon, full of suggestions on how to fix TransLink.

4. The YES side was always going to lose!

The YES side was winning in the polls (and, remember, the pollsters got this result bang-on) in December (by 13 points) and January (by 4 points). They also set all the rules for the campaign, tailoring the timing, campaign length, funding rules, and even the ballot itself to their purposes. And they spent $23.44 of taxpayer money for every YES vote that came in (we spent 8.5 cents – none of it taxpayer money – for every NO vote).

5. Direct democracy is bad because the “dumb” people get to vote.

This is mainly a sour grapes attack. If the vote had come back YES, these same people would be touting the “will of the people.” Heaven forbid we ask the people their opinion on giving a sales tax to a whole new level of government. Yes, we elect people to represent us. That doesn’t mean we give them complete, total, unfettered control for four years. We need more direct democracy, not less.

6. YES lost because of ignorant suburbanites/drivers/old people (insert group they loathe here).

This myth, mainly propagated by the Vancouver and New Westminster “urban” crowd, conveniently ignores the fact that the NO vote won in both Vancouver and New West. The last poll before the vote had the YES/NO vote virtually even (within the margin of error) among transit users, cyclists and walking commuters. It also had NO ahead with every age group, including 18-34 year olds.