While everyone else in the Lower Mainland ponders why so many people voted No in the transit referendum, the opposite question is being asked here: why did so many Bowen Islanders go against the tide and vote Yes?
Bowen Island topped the charts for the Yes side, with 62 per cent agreeing to the proposed 0.5 per cent surcharge on the provincial sales tax to pay for an expanded transit system and 38 per cent voting no — practically the reverse of the total tally.
David Hocking, who used to work with the David Suzuki Foundation before becoming divisional manager of corporate communications at Metro Vancouver, attributes part of it to islanders’ progressive views on environmental issues.
“We need to swing people from cars to transit,” he says. “The highest porportion of greenhouse gas emissions in the region come from transportation. If we want to address climate change, we need to address transit.”
As well, most islanders’ dealings with Translink’s services on Bowen have been positive. “We get great local service from great local people… so we have a higher level of trust.”
The No side tapped into people’s anger and frustration with Translink. SFU professor Richard Smith, who’s been an advocate of Peter King’s express bus for commuters, says that islanders’ dealings with BC Ferries make them better able to separate their anger and frustration with the corporation from their awareness that they rely heavily on its services.
“Who isn’t mad at BC Ferries,” he asks, adding that few people would vote against measures to enhance it.
“You can be angry at the bureaucracy but still understand the value of the service,” he says.
Mayor Murray Skeels, who lobbied for a Yes vote, is proud of islanders’ support for better public transportation. He says he stressed the economic benefits of funding the $7.5 billions’ worth of projects through the sales tax, noting that not only Vancouverites would therefore be contributing. And with the province and federal governments each chipping in a third, “the return on investment was a no brainer.”
Asked why so many islanders voted yes, he laughed and said, “we live on Bowen Island because we really hate traffic.” More seriously, he noted the high level of civic engagement on Bowen. “We have the highest level of education than any area in the Lower Mainland. We have a grasp on public policy and it’s not as tough a crowd to talk to.”
By the numbers
Sixty-two per cent of the island’s 1,368 valid ballots, or 847 people, put a checkmark in the Yes box. The No side garnered 521 votes. A whisker’s more than half of the island’s 2,708 eligible voters made their choice known.
Bowen Island was the only municipality that broke 60 per cent and there were only two other areas that surpassed the 50 per cent mark: Metro Vancouver Electoral Area A (including UBC, the University Endowment Lands, lands along Howe Sound and Bowyer and Passage Islands) voted 59 per cent in favour of the transit tax and Belcarra voted 52 per cent in favour.
Despite a concerted effort in Vancouver, the city’s Yes side could not quite muster half the votes, coming in at 49.2 per cent. In Maple Ridge, voters seemed to have shouted “No!”, with 77 per cent voting against the tax.
The overall vote was 62 per cent for the No side, 38 per cent for the Yes side.
In March, three islanders took to the pages of the Undercurrent to make their pitch.
Mayor Skeels said, “If you vote against it you will have to take responsibility for every passenger left stranded because the buses passing by are all full, the pollution from tens of thousands of cars stuck in traffic jams and the parents that miss having dinner with their family because they got stuck in traffic and missed the ferry,” he wrote.
Another vocal Yes supporter was David Hocking. The vote isn’t about TransLink, it’s about our future, he said. “Do we want an expensive, polluted, gridlocked, Los Angeles-style region? Everyone benefits from increased transit, whether you use it or not… For 35 cents a day, the Suzuki Foundation estimates a ‘yes’ vote would reduce greenhouse gas emissions, even with the expected addition of a million more people, and to about 25 per cent below the level resulting from a ‘no’ vote.”
Gordon Ganong argued that the money would be better spent improving services on the island, encouraging people to vote no. He said, “Bowen is sending much needed funds off Island while receiving an unfair share that comparable communities enjoy. Bowen Island has great resilience, but, one has to ask, ‘Are we the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for others?’So, does it make sense to vote to send another $340,000 off island with this new transit tax.”
