The Township of Langley won’t be participating in the debate over a proposed transit improvement tax for Metro Vancouver.
Councillor Angie Quaale convinced a majority of council Monday (Feb. 2) to agree that the Township should spend no money or staff time trying to convince residents how to vote later this year in a referendum on hiking the provincial sales tax by half a percentage point.
Quaale said Vancouver and Surrey were spending “a lot of time and money” on transit tax campaigns that would be better spent in on other things.
The council vote approving the neutrality policy passed 5-4, with Councillors Quaale, Blair Whitmarsh, Charlie Fox, Michelle Sparrow and Mayor Jack Froese in favour, while Councillors Petrina Arnason, Kim Richter, David Davis and Bob Long were opposed.
Richter thought a decision on the idea should be delayed until council had an opportunity to hear representatives of the yes and no sides make presentations to council later this month.
“Members of the public might want council to take a stand,” Richter said.
Councillor Blair Whitmarsh thought a hands-off approach made the most sense.
“A position of no position is a good position for this council to take,” Whitmarsh said.
While the Township won’t be taking an official position one way or the other on the tax, Mayor Froese has been campaigning for the yes side.
Froese and his Langley City counterpart Ted Schaffer were among the majority of Metro Vancouver mayors who voted 18-3 to hold a referendum on hiking the provincial sales tax within the region by 0.5 per cent to fund a $7.5-billion package of transit upgrades.
It is the first Canadian referendum on transit funding.
If approved, the increase to the sales tax would cost the average Metro household about $125 a year.
Froese has said that approving the tax increase would immediately improve bus service and ultimately bring light rail transit to Langley while Schaffer has said the transit plan contains specific benefits for Metro residents who live south of the Fraser River, including a beefed-up express bus service and more rapid transit trains.
The referendum ballots will be mailed to residents in March.