From the Coquitlam Now – June 10, 2011

by Jennifer McFee

Local mayors have been vocal about the fate of the long-awaited Evergreen Line. Now Tri-Cities MPs are having their say.

So
far, the federal government has contributed $417 million towards the
$1.4-billion project, while the province has added another $410
million. However, the project remains off-track due to a $574-million
shortfall, which includes a $400-million commitment from local
government that has yet to materialize.

For Port Moody-Westwood-Port Coquitlam Conservative MP James Moore, this delay is “mind-boggling.”

“For
three and a half years, we’ve set aside $417 million and it’s been
collecting dust because local governments haven’t anted up their third
of the share to build the Evergreen Line,” Moore said.

“The
province is onside. The federal government is onside. But local
governments and TransLink haven’t anted up their third of the funding
and it’s time that they did. The public is getting impatient and so am
I.”

The delay is becoming an embarrassment, Moore added.

“Three
and a half years ago we announced it, so it’s borderline embarrassing
that local levels of government have been waiting this long to figure
out how to pay for something they said was their top priority,” he
said.

“If this is the local government’s top priority — their
No. 1 priority, the most important thing — and it takes them three and
a half years to figure out how to pay for it, I think that is
mind-boggling.”

On the contrary, New Westminster-Coquitlam NDP MP
Fin Donnelly believes the federal government needs to do more to help
close the funding gap. The 2011 federal budget presented Monday did not
address transit infrastructure like the Evergreen Line, he added.

“We
see that there’s a $574-million gap in the $1.4-billion Evergreen
Line. The local government is struggling. TransLink is struggling to
commit its share of the funds. I think we need to have all levels of
government at the table trying to solve that problem, and the federal
government could have been a positive contributor to that,” Donnelly
said.

“They’re certainly commended to have provided over $400
million to the project, but obviously with a $574-million gap, there
still needs to be a role for the federal government to close that gap
and build the Evergreen Line.

“We’re so close, so we need the feds and the province and the local government working together.”

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