Mayor Lois Jackson wants a regional survey of residents to be undertaken prior to the formulation of a referendum question on transit funding.
Jackson put forward a motion to the Metro Vancouver board last Friday asking that the chief administrative officers from the member municipalities work with the region to come up with a survey, which could determine what question should be posed on this November's civic election ballots.
She estimates a survey would cost in the range of $30,000. The board is to debate the motion Feb. 28.
Whatever the Metro board decides, it's certain the plan for a referendum on TransLink funding will continue to be a heated issue with regional mayors and the province at odds.
Premier Christy Clark had promised that Metro Vancouver voters would be offered a multiple-choice decision on public transit during the municipal elections. It's resulted in a war of words with civic politicians questioning the process and warning of the consequences if increased transit funding is rejected.
The premier, who made a referendum a campaign promise during last year's provincial election, recently said she'd be willing to talk to the mayors about holding off on a referendum if they needed more time.
Long a critic of TransLink and how it makes decisions, Jackson told the Optimist she's in favour of holding the referendum, noting a multiple choice question seems the best way to go.
"It really should be before the people at election time. Transportation and traffic are the biggest problems in the Lower Mainland. You've got every community in the Lower Mainland talking about it with no solution in sight.
"Where better than to hear from the people at election time, if it's an information ballot or whatever. I think it would be all good information for the minister (of transportation)," she said. Jackson said so-called "information ballots" on local issues have been used before on the municipal election ballot, including whether residents were willing to spend surplus civic dollars on the purchase of a CT scanner for Delta Hospital.
She said voters would need as much information as possible to make sure they understand the question and its implications. A transit funding question could also become a hot-button issue for council candidates to debate, Jackson added.
