Fed money for transit: how to tell the story
I don’t quite know how it is that Marvin Rotrand, independent councillor, always gets the ear of the media. This weekend the Journal quotes him on the issue of demanding more federal money for public transit and the Gazette quotes Rotrand and another opposition councillor on the topic, even obliging by putting on a scare headline claiming an impending “crunch” for transit funding.
The Gazette, in passing, several paragraphs down, does admit that city hall already has action planned in this area so in fact it is a non-story. However, more casual readers will come away with the idea that the Plante administration is neglecting the issue. This plays into a tendency I see borne out in angry comments about many issues on Facebook and Twitter, where many people seem dead set against Projet even while not understanding a given issue or what the city administration is already doing about it.
If I have one piece of advice for Projet it is this: have your elected officials do more to talk up the beneficial changes you’re making and planning. I think often a mildly lefty government can feel its benefits are clear and evident to the populace, while opposition groups orchestrate all the small waves of dislike to create a tsunami against them come election time.
There’s a certain irony in that there’s any traction in blaming Projet for not doing enough for transit. The same people will flip a switch tomorrow and accuse them of being “anti-car”!
Hamza 13:47 on 2019-08-03 Permalink
i feel it’s almost a strategy of the right to *never* give lefty governments any credit whatsoever. unfortunately this leads to their base nearly always turning their distaste for lefty governments into personal vendettas (see the reams of online hate for Justin Trudeau, Mayor Plante, Manon Massé… or maybe don’t) .
This intensity increase of the hate from the right seems to skew the media’s view of things until right-wing governments are given much more slack and benefits-of-the-doubts while any old slip-up or misunderstanding is pounced upon and constantly flung back in discussions.
I still see people and the odd pundit try to make something of Justin’s trip to India God-knows-how-long-ago, not for any political purpose, but just because it *feels* good to them to revel in his supposed ‘mistake’ or whatever.
The cruelty is the point?
Ant6n 23:07 on 2019-08-03 Permalink
Trudeau is a lefty??
Kevin 23:08 on 2019-08-03 Permalink
Marvin talks to the media.
Other municipal politicians are very reluctant to do so.
Kate 10:21 on 2019-08-04 Permalink
Ant6n, Trudeau is a lefty if you’re Andrew Scheer or Maxime Bernier.
ant6n 11:22 on 2019-08-04 Permalink
To me that’s moving the Overton window. We don’t have to adopt the skewed perceptions of fringe right wingers.
Faiz Imam 12:37 on 2019-08-04 Permalink
That’s a bit of an exaggeration kate, Trudeau is considered left by way more than a narrow fringe. Just in case you are not aware, the Conservatives are leading in the polls right now, and the specific policies that we here find obvious are far from a consensus.
Nora Loreto has done a ton of articles and podcasts on why the progressive voice has been so ineffectual at defining any sort of narrative. It seems clear that we are just not very good at it.
The anti-climate, pro-car, pro-consumerism, anti-government voices are simply doing a better job articulating what is good and what is bad, and the left is relying on evidence and policy to do the work instead of human rhetoric.
But its not good enough. simple messages of selfishness and hate sell because they tickle the reptile brain. Its why populist candidates tend to do well. Progressive populism is few and far between (Plante and QS are probably our best examples) but we need much more.
Marvin Rotrand 13:09 on 2019-08-04 Permalink
I appreciate diversity of opinion but I am beginning to feel this blog apologizes for the current City administration and consistently tries to put it in the best light.
When I was at the STM I was nominated to the Canadian Urban Transit Association’s (CUTA) Transit Board Members Committee eventually chairing that national committee. In 2015 we spearheaded a national campaign to convince the federal parties to commit to substantial new transit infrastructure funding, We spoke to municipalities and urged them to adopt motions and we met with representatives of the parties. One member of our committee was Amarjeet Sohi who eventually became Minister of Infrastructure in the Trudeau Government
As a consequence of our work and that of municipalities the Liberal Party of Canada pledged to reinvest in infrastructure with a large portion aimed at assuring Canadians of a fast, efficient and comfortable sustainable transport future. However it was not only a Liberal priority: the demand for building new transport infrastructure had resonance with all four major parties, with the Conservatives, NDP and Greens also committing to funding to different degrees. The consensus that Canada needed a modern high capacity public transit network has aided the Government of Canada to live up to the promises made.
Having said that I have lobbied over the past years – with little support – for additional federal funding targeted to transit operations arguing that the success of the infrastructure program would cause a cash crunch in the budgets of major transit operators.
I now note that the Union of Quebec Municipalities (UMQ), CUTA and Trajectoire have recently moved in that direction. The UMQ stated: « L’UMQ rappelle que pour qu’une initiative fédérale en matière de transport collectif comble les besoins des municipalités, elle doit inclure le financement des coûts d’exploitation des sociétés de transport »
This is welcome news and if there is indeed a municipal effort can have a positive impact on the platforms of the federal parties.
Incidentally, there has been no similar statement from the administration of the City of Montreal or from any of the Councillors belonging to the majority party at our City Council.
As Canadians begin to focus on the October 21, 2019 election, I am hopeful that a concerted effort by municipalities will attract the parties’ attention to the fact that successful renewal of transit also needs increased funding for transporters to operate their networks. That’s why I tabled my motion urging the federal political parties to add a promise to their 2019 electoral platforms to provide funding for transit operations and wrote to the Mayors of some 100 communities across the country suggesting that their City Councils adopt similar motions to support such funding.
Substantial new investment in infrastructure has indeed spurred the construction of new lines and allowed transporters to augment the size of their fleets.However the launch of new lines and the implementing of more frequent service has and is adding to the operational costs of local transporters.
In most cases no identifiable source of funding exists to boost the transit offer other than raising transit fares and boosting local taxation. Municipalities and local authorities have limited means to finance the additional services that new lines and new vehicles can offer. Raising fares to allow better service is a losing proposition and hiking municipal taxes to pay for more transit is an equally poor choice.
Last week you may have seen the op-ed penned by Marco D’Angelo, President of CUTA pointing out the gains made through the funding poured into infrastructure and warning of the coming cash crunch in transporters’ operational budgets.
Also, last week the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, noting that the Gas Tax Fund (GTF) for 2019-2020 has been doubled to a total of $4.4 billion, invited the next Government of Canada to consider making that level of funding in this program permanent.
The specifics of whether funds from the GTF could be allocated to transit operations or whether that should come from a separate fund are less important than winning all parties’ support for federal money to aid transit operations which is why I believel that a series of municipal motions will have an impact on the 2019 election campaign.
I don’t intend to respond on regular basis to your blog but claiming this is a non-story detracts from the credibility of your work.
Best regards,
Marvin Rotrand
Kate 20:05 on 2019-08-04 Permalink
Thank you, Mr. Rotrand.
Yes, my sympathies lie with Projet. I don’t think I’ve made a secret of that. When Denis Coderre was running his bread-and-circuses administration it was a no-brainer to choose Projet over his party. Now, I’m inclined to grasp how Valérie Plante wants to run things and cut her slack at times when I can clearly see she has no choice, because the province or the federal government have the upper hand and she only has so much leverage. I won’t join in dogpiling on her when something’s going on that’s actually not within her remit, but a lot of people do.