NDP demands Liberals properly invest in TransLink and other public transit

Following the announcement by TransLink on July 25th, NDP critic for Infrastructure Bonita Zarrillo (Port Moody—Coquitlam) issued the following statement:

“People in Vancouver, and all across Canada deserve access to affordable and accessible public transit. Today we’ve learned that TransLink is lacking $600 million which will result in significant cuts to all transit services, with bus services alone being cut in half.

Justin Trudeau had nine years to step up and invest in transit—but he didn’t, and now people across Canada are at risk of losing access to the transit they rely on to go to work, school, or to visit loved ones. Instead, the Liberals make empty announcements of funding that won’t support Metro Vancouver’s transit expansion plan – or even maintain what currently exists. Our communities need help now and these shocking numbers show just how little the Liberals are doing to help.

Canadians know that strong public transit is needed to combat the climate crisis. As we are all watching in horror the events unfolding in Jasper Alta. it is increasingly clear that we need to be supporting public transit to meet our climate goals, not cutting those supports out of our communities.

The Conservatives meanwhile are more than happy to cut those supports and let the climate crisis continue to get worse. Pierre Poilievre won’t help to fix transit when all he and the Conservatives want is to cut funding for transit altogether and let the planet burn.

New Democrats want to change the rules so our cities can keep building their affordable, accessible, and environmentally friendly public transit that will help us tackle the climate crisis, and make life more affordable for all Canadians.”