VANCOUVER, B.C.: Bowen Island Mayor Murray Skeels has revealed he is supporting the TransLink tax in order to curry favour with TransLink, its Mayors Council chair Gregor Robertson, Metro Vancouver, and Metro chair Greg Moore.
Following Skeels’ admission, the No TransLink Tax campaign is calling on mayors to respect their constituents’ wishes for open democracy and put an end to political favour trading at Metro and TransLink.
In a March 26th posting on a Bowen Island website, Skeels wrote:
“Bowen is a very tiny part of Metro Vancouver. The number of votes we can contribute to the Yes side is tiny and aren’t likely to carry the day. However the votes are going to be announced by Municipality (sic). We will be told what percentage of voters cast ballots and what percentages voted yes and no. The Mayors will be inhaling these numbers like air. And they will remember for a decade which Municipality (sic) cast the highest percentage of ballots and which had the highest percentage of Yes votes. If I happen to be the Mayor of that Municipality (sic) I’m going to be a very popular guy for a while. And that is exactly what Bowen needs.”
Skeels goes on to note that when dealing with TransLink: “I’d really like them to have a warm and fuzzy feeling about us when I pitch the changes we’ll be proposing. You can see where I’m going with this. We’re the mouse sleeping beside the elephant and we don’t get to do favours for the elephant very often. This is one of those rare opportunities when we get to be the kind of people whom others want to be friends with.”
“Taxpayers should be very concerned when regional decisions are being made based on which politicians scratched which backs. Regional requests should be weighed according to business plans, public need and intelligent prioritization – not political favours,” said Jordan Bateman, spokesperson for the No TransLink Taxcampaign. “Are other mayors going along with this TransLink tax to try and curry favour with Gregor Robertson and Greg Moore for various pet projects? Is that the price for Vancouver’s favour? Give them billions for an Arbutus subway and get a park upgrade?”
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