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The electronic petition launched last month urges the feds to step up with new investments to fund “transit expansion across the region including, but not limited to, building SkyTrain to Langley City and to UBC.”

The petition was sponsored by Ken Hardie, Liberal MP for Surrey—Port Kells. “Given what’s going on in the region — not just population growth, but the location of jobs, industry, et cetera — we actually need that (SkyTrain) to get all the way to Langley for that investment to work best for the region,” he said.

The petition calls for the federal government to provide $3 billion for a permanent fund, as requested by Metro Vancouver’s mayors earlier this year, to support transit projects in municipalities across the country. The proposed “congestion relief fund” would be allocated based on ridership, and Metro Vancouver would receive $375 million each year under the proposal.

“That petition is just ammunition that we can take into caucus or into Parliament itself, and say: ‘This is a really, really big deal out on the coast, and we’ll make really good use of the money,” Hardie said Wednesday by phone.

The federal government committed $20 billion in its 2017 budget for transit system improvements across Canada over 11 years, through agreements with provinces and territories.

Hardie, who headed TransLink’s communications department before getting into politics, said he plans to raise the subject with Canada’s new infrastructure minister, Catherine McKenna.