Sunday, August 06, 2006

around every black cloud...

If anyone was going to find a silver lining around the otherwise dark and dismal black cloud of the 90's under an NDP government, it had to be Kevin Potvin. ("Socialists Score with Express" Vancouver Courier Friday October 4.)

I think that very few would actually argue his main point and that is the value that the West Coast Express and the Millenium Line have added to an otherwise very tired transit system. The problem is that he uses apples and oranges to compare these systems with the BC Liberals Gateway Program. The West Coast Express and the Millenium Line have done nothing to alleviate traffic problems east of the Port Mann Bridge, as thousands of commuters will attest. I myself spent almost an hour last week trying to get from south Langley to the bridge via highway 1. Obviously Mr. Potvin doesn't drive this route!

Its also interesting that Kevin so briefly glances over the Fast Ferries fiasco as though $244 million is nothing between friends. Also interesting is the fact that the article stops short at 3 "big boondoggles." It seems to me that with only a little bit of thought one could easily recall several more significant messes made during our decade of NDP mis-management.

As to the BC Liberals not having any new ideas, I guess building critical infrastructure that will get cars off of the road sooner as well as one that will accommodate buses, bicycles and future rail transit isn't that new, its just that no one before our current government seemed willing to do it.