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editorial

A night time shot Lion's Gate Bridge in Vancouver. Photo By John Lehmann/Globe and MailJOHN LEHMANN/The Globe and Mail

The spring referendum on transit and traffic in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia may well turn out to be more important than the region's municipal elections last Saturday.

In June, 20 out of the 21 mayors of Metro Vancouver agreed to a highly promising proposal combining light rapid transit and "time- and distance-based" road tolls. The City of Vancouver hopes to include a subway along Broadway.

The B.C. government has insisted on a referendum before the plan goes ahead, while the federal government has not offered to lend a hand. The plan is to cost $7.5-billion over 10 years, but it's far from clear where the money will come from. The provincial government is open to a regional carbon tax, but will not contribute from the province-wide carbon tax.

As for the 21 municipalities, they have not yet formulated a referendum question, though they have to do so by Dec. 11. In particular, they have not decided whether to pose a simple yes/no question or to offer some sort of multiple choice. They also have to revise the plan itself. And there's pressure to hold the referendum quickly, in the early spring of 2015, before many students – heavy transit users and presumably transit backers – have left at the end of the academic year.

The plan deserves support, but its advocates will have to work hard to make sure it is approved. Canadian voters aren't accustomed to referendums about public infrastructure – as opposed to macro-political conflicts about constitutional change and secession. So it's hard to tell how this one will turn out. Such referendums are more common in the United States. And they're an excellent idea.

TransLink, the agency in charge of transportation in the region, conducted a poll before the plan was made public in June. It found that 57 per cent would probably vote "yes" to a plan of this sort, while 35 per cent would vote "no."

But the proponents can't be complacent. Many people won't like having to pay their existing property taxes, and paying for the use of the roads on top of that. Voters who drive need to be politely but firmly reminded that they don't like sitting for hours in their idling vehicles, when they could be productively earning money – or enjoying life.

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