Now upon reading this, would you think the same as I did? The government plans to provide funding to help with transit difficulties in the lower mainland?

I’d like you to take a minute to read the following headline, from a BC Government media release sent out today …

“Province helps fund Metro Vancouver transit and transportation improvements”

Now upon reading this, would you think the same as I did?  The government plans to provide new funding to help with transit difficulties in the lower mainland? 

If that is indeed what you thought, like me, we’d both be wrong.

No, instead here is what is actually happening.

The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, headed by the Honourable Selina Robinson, has proposed changes ('changes' = tax increases) to the Parking Rights Tax – and that is what will help TransLink fund major transit and transportation improvements to keep people and goods moving quickly, safely and affordably in Metro Vancouver.

Apparently, TransLink has projected that the increases to the Parking Rights Tax will bring in and additional $10 million a year in new revenue from what they are calling a minor increase to the Parking Rights Tax.

Hmmmm … $10 million dollars in additional taxes doesn’t sound like a minor increase to me!

Proposed legislative changes by the provincial NDP government will allow TransLink to increase the Parking Rights Tax — a sales tax paid by people buying off-street parking in Metro Vancouver — from the current 21% to a maximum of 24% -- and costing consumers an additional 15 cents on $5 of parking.

So there you have it … YES, the provincial government are helping fund Metro Vancouver transit and transportation improvements.  However, in the case of this specific government media release, the additional monies being used to fund transit in the lower mainland are actually coming from new fees being imposed on drivers.

Sadly, with so many community newspapers being gobbled up by large companies, and then those companies slashing the number of reporters on staff and able to gather and verify news stories, what we are seeing are government news releases being printed word-for-word as if they were actual news.

That may indeed be accurate in some cases, however who do we have checking that for us?

In Kamloops, I’m Alan Forseth, and I hope you’ll join the discussion on this, or any other topic presented here.  Do you agree … disagree?  Post your thoughts in the Comment Section directly below.