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“These years of shortfall in investment have begun to threaten the gains won through previous decades of strong policy,” the report states. “Transit service has started to decrease as demand and populations have risen. The traffic congestion B.C. is experiencing today is a direct result of underfunding transit.”

The report comes a week after the province announced it would fund one-third of the first phase of Metro’s 10-year $7.5-billion transit plan, which the David Suzuki Foundation estimates only represents only a three per cent commitment to the entire plan. The foundation suggests that as the federal government has committed 50 per cent of funding, the province should fund 40 per cent and TransLink 10 per cent — otherwise there’s a risk Metro could lose the federal funds.

“Local governments are limited in what they can do to fund these kinds of projects,” said Ian Bruce, David Suzuki Foundation’s science and policy director. “The provincial government needs to work with the region’s mayors beyond what they’ve agreed to so far if we’re to have a hope of securing matching federal funds for these projects.”

The report suggests that if the B.C. government had committed the level of funding it proposed in 2008, the province would have already got federal infrastructure funds, and the transit plan would be underway. It also notes the provincial investment needed today is less than the province itself suggested was its fair share under the previous plan, at 40 per cent compared to 43 per cent.