[van-announce] Urgent action required.......to stop the RAV line P3

[Murray Dobbin]

Urgent action required.......to stop the RAV line P3

We have less than two weeks to stop the ill-conceived P3 (public private
partnership) RAV line - the proposed skytrain line from the airport and
Richmond to Vancouver. The political situation is very complex but I think
can be understood as the following: We are facing an adversary not in the
highly publicized internal disagreements within Vancouver City Council. They
want to do the right thing. Our adversary in this situation are the
provincial and federal governments which are in effect blackmailing the
municipal governments of the lower mainland - the GVRD  - and their transit
authority, Translink (also known as the Greater Vancouver Transit
Authority). They are offering money for the RAV line specifically (denying
local government the right to make its own decisions based on their
priorities) and the province is telling Translink that it must proceed with
a P3 approach if it wants the money (the feds are implying this as well with
the new Martin government even more determined to push P3s than Chretien
was).

The GVRD local governments, including Vancouver City Council, are
understandably reluctant to do anything to jeopardize the $750 million
promised by the two senior levels of government. Our community clearly wants
better transit and there would be a real possibility that many people would
blame local councils, including Vancouver’s, if the money was lost, for any
reason. A pro-Liberal media would certainly use the opportunity to bash
those taking a progressive stand.

We need to mobilize as many people as possible to support and/or lobby all
municipal councils in their right to make decisions about improving transit
without being bullied and manipulated by the province or Ottawa.

Acquiescing to this bullying sets a terrible precedent and it will be used
by both levels of government to impose more P3s - schemes that are arguably
worse than outright privatizations as they actually guarantee that the
corporations involved makes a profit.

Winning this fight against a P3 is therefore of national importance. It will
be, if it goes ahead, the biggest P3 of a public facility in Canadian
history. The Paul Martin government  will use it as a beachhead for putting
conditions on all future funding for all infrastructure projects -
hospitals, roads, sewage treatment plants, etc.

First, and urgent, is to register to speak at the Translink Board meeting,
May 7th as soon as possible. Translink meets THIS Wednesday (28th) for a
workshop - we want to have dozens of people signed up to speak so they know
there is a movement building.


Phone or email your request to speak to Sandra Bird

phone: 604-453-4625 or email  sandra_bird at translink.bc.ca

with the following information:

1) Say you wish to address the board on the RAV project
2) Say you want the board to vote against the privatization of the RAV by
turning down the public private partnership.
3) If you are speaking for an organization, the name of the organization.
Corporate Secretary must have the request to speak NO LATER THAN the end of
the day Tuesday, May 4th .

To stop the P3 we need as many people as possible to:

1) We need to get hundreds of people calling the Mayor Campbell’s office
urging him and the city council to oppose the P3 under any and all
circumstances. The mayor and council need to know that opposing this P3 will
get them much more support than risking  the $300 million promised by the
province (that may be a bluff in any case).

The mayor’s office phone number(he is out of town until the 4th so leave a
message): 873-7621

Translink member Raymond Louie - 873-7243

Translink member David Cadman - 873- 7244

[If you want to call other councillors their phone numbers are in the blue
pages]

You can send an email message to the mayor and all councillors at:

 mayorandcouncil at city.vancouver.bc.ca

[For those outside of Vancouver receiving this, contact your local Mayor and
councilors - but especially your Translink rep - see below]

2) A key proponent of the RAV P3 is Marvin Hunt of Surrey City Council and a
Translink director. It was Hunt who ultimately cancelled the Seymore water
plant on the basis of the public opposition - particularly the threat from
trade agreements such as NAFTA law suits. Call him and let him know that
this case is virtually identical, if not worse because of the huge potential
for cost overruns.

Remember: the phone call need only take 30 seconds: a simple message asking
him to vote against the P3 is all you need to do.

Phone: 604-591-4635

3) Come to the Translink meeting on May 7th at 1:00, at the New Westminister
City hall,
at: 511 - Royal Avenue (at the corner of 6th Street and Royal Ave).

4)Write a letter and send it to the Vancouver Sun
[sunletters at png.canwest.com ] the  Province [provletters at png.canwest.com ]
and the Courier [editor at vancourier.com ]

Following are some facts and arguments you can use. Make your letters SHORT
AND TO THE POINT - that way they are more likely to get published and read.
Don’t try to get all these points in: pick 2 or 3.

* The main point you want to make is simple: We are opposed to the
privatization of public transit, no matter what.

* Also very important: We totally reject the interference in local
decision-making of the provincial government and specifically Gordon
Campbell’s office. They have said that we have to do a P3 or we don’t get
the $300 million they have promised for the RAV. This is unacceptable and
makes a mockery of local transit planning

* The study claiming that a P3 will save money is badly flawed. It claims
the private contractor will assume the risk normally born by the public. But
a review of the RAV project  for Vancouver City Council by the Underhill
Company found that “
 the PPP 
 does not appear to transfer substantial risk
to the private sector.” Macquarie North American Ltd, a consultant working
for TransLink, came to the same conclusion.

* The bond rating firm Standard and Poor just lowered the outlook for the
Municipal Finance Authority of British Columbia (which borrows for all local
governments),  precisely because of the excessive financial risk assumed by
Translink regarding potential cost overruns. That means that every
municipality in the province - not just Translink and the GVRD - could end
up paying higher interest rates because of the RAV P3.

* We are very vulnerable to NAFTA. US-based Waste Management Inc. is
currently suing Mexico under NAFTA for US $60 million over a contract it had
to provide services to the City of Acapulco. The Mexican P3 contract  made
commitments to ensure the company made money from the contract. This is
exactly what the RAV line P3 does - we could end up with a similar law suit.

* Canada has subjected urban transit services on rail lines to WTO rules.
These rules give guaranteed rights to foreign companies in how they are to
be treated by governments.They leave Canada vulnerable to a trade
complaint - and trade sanctions. The federal government could bring enormous
pressure on the GVRD/Translink if they broke the rules by acting in the
interests of citizens.

* We should call on the Vancouver reps on the Translink board - Raymond
Louie, Larry Campbell and David Cadman - to stand up to the bullying by
Gordon Campbell. There is a lot of pressure on them to go along with a P3
for fear of losing the provincial money. We need to make it clear that we
support them opposing a P3 even if it means losing the provincial money



Translink Board Members
 	Mayor Malcolm Brodie (Richmond)
 	Mayor Larry Campbell (Vancouver)
 	Councillor David Cadman (Vancouver)
 	Mayor Derek Corrigan (Burnaby)
 	Mayor Marlene Grinnell (Langley City)
 	Councillor Marvin Hunt (Surrey)
 	Mayor Jon Kingsbury (Coquitlam)
 	Councillor Raymond Louie (Vancouver)
 	Mayor Don MacLean (Pitt Meadows)
 	Mayor Doug McCallum (Surrey)
 	Mayor Barbara Sharp (City of North Vancouver)
 	Mayor Wayne Wright (New Westminster) member at large