LTE - Mayor one of few politicians to see wisdom of Fraser Valley light rail

Published: Oct 15, 2009

Editor: I want to thank Mayor Rick Green and council for fighting for a Fraser Valley passenger rail service, where other politicians have been failing us.

In the last year, MPs such as Mark Warawa had the opportunity to step up and implement a green stimulus plan that included light rail.

Yet the Conservative government wasted $10 billion bailing out the car manufacturers and a whopping $80 million dollars of taxpayers dollars advertising their “action plan.”

It’s not too late. A national light rail plan, such as that proposed by the Green Party, would create thousands of jobs across the country, provide better options for commuters, spur on smarter land developments around stations, and help the environment.

Instead of continuing to bail out car companies, we could upgrade their factories to produce railcars (and more buses). The steel industry would be helped by producing hundreds of kilometres of rail for tracks. More importantly, local jobs would be created in constructing the lines.

Almost 124 years ago, Canada was brought together by a national railway. It is time our federal government once again took the lead. We are already $56 billion in deficit this year, with very little to show for it!

Dan Grice,

Langley

[From Langley Times - Mayor one of few politicians to see wisdom of Fraser Valley light rail]