1. By Steph Troughton
newsroom@mapleridgenews.com
Two days before the
May 29 voting deadline,
more than half of regis-
tered voters living in Ma-
ple Ridge and Pitt Mead-
ows still had to turn in
their transportation and
transit referendum bal-
lots.
According to Elections
B.C., only 5,777 ballots
had been turned in from
the 12,866 registered vot-
ers living in Pitt Mead-
ows.
In Maple Ridge, a to-
tal of 25,819 ballots had
been turned in from
54,504 registered voters.
As of Wednesday,
698,900 Metro Vancou-
ver ballots, equating to
44.7 per cent of the 1.56
million registered voter
count, had been received
and screened by Elec-
tions B.C.
Residents are being
asked to say yes or no to
a 0.5 per cent increase in
the provincial sales tax to
fund various transporta-
tion improvements, in-
cluding new rapid transit
and express bus lines.
No TransLink Tax
campaign leader Jordan
Bateman is confident the
proposed tax hike will be
defeated.
“Voters have stood up
against the scare tactics
of the Yes side and are
voting against the Trans-
Link Mayors, who have
spent $7 million in tax-
payer money to defend
an agency the public
knows is wasteful and
unaccountable,” he said.
The No campaign says
it’s spent about $40,000
and voluntarily released
an updated list of donors
that shows roughly half
the campaign has been
funded by the Canadian
Taxpayers Federation.
The province did not set
any rules on campaign
spending or financing.
Peter Robinson, a co-
chair of the 145-group
Better Transportation
and Transit Coalition,
said the turnout shows
residents understand the
issue is extremely im-
portant and urged a final
push to get out the Yes
vote.
“When more people
vote in a transit and
transportation plebiscite
than cast ballots for their
local mayor and council
last November, it’s clear
how central this issue is
to our communities.”
Yes coalition officials
say they are ready to con-
tinue advocating for im-
provements regardless of
the outcome.
Pitt Meadows Mayor
John Becker said he
turned in his ballot so
long ago he could not
remember which day it
was, but his support of
the tax never wavered
during the campaign.
Ensuring Metro Van-
couver communities like
Pitt Meadows had access
to efficient transporta-
tion services was of the
“highest priority” simply
because residents were so
dependent on them.
“In Pitt Meadows, over
80 per cent of our resi-
dents have to leave the
community for work,” he
said.
Although Becker re-
ported he continued to
remain optimistic the
majority would vote in
favor of the new transit
tax and members of the
mayors’ council did not
have a back-up plan for
a negative vote result, he
did indicate the council
would be ready to ad-
dress that possibility.
“If the referendum
fails, we will have to roll
up our sleeves, clear our
desks from referendum
details and get to work
because the current sta-
tus quo isn’t sustainable,”
he maintained.
Maple Ridge Mayor Ni-
cole Read recently con-
firmed she had voted no
near the start of the ref-
erendum. She reiterated
her reasoning, which
included putting the re-
sponsibility of funding
improvements back on
to the provincial gov-
ernment and the gen-
eral consensus of Maple
Ridge residents.
“Therejustisn’tastrong
appetite for the yes vote
here. Most of our resi-
dents don’t have trust in
TransLink,” she said.
The deadline for Elec-
tions B.C. to receive vot-
ers’ ballots is 8 p.m., Fri-
day, May 29.
Anyone who is voting
at the last minute is ad-
vised to drop ballots off
at one of nine plebiscite
offices. In Maple Ridge,
an office is located inside
Haney Place Mall.
Elections B.C. staff will
continue screening and
verification of ballots af-
ter the voting deadline
once all ballots arrive in
Victoria next week.
Results are to be an-
nounced in late June.
Half in Maple Ridge, Pitt
Meadows haven’t vote Yes or No
Last-minute voters urged to drop
off ballots instead of mailing them