As Metro Vancouver mayors scramble to craft a question for the coming transportation referendum by next week, backroom support for a pro-transit vote is growing among business, labour, environmental and student groups in the region.

Delegates at the B.C. Federation of Labour convention on Monday unanimously agreed to back the transit referendum, while the Vancouver Board of Trade is preparing strategies on how to market the campaign once it gets underway.

At the same time, post-secondary student societies are already on board to ensure that tens of thousands of students in Metro Vancouver are registered to participate in the March referendum, likely to be conducted by mail-in ballot.

“These kinds of referendums, if they do pass, it’s because of a consortium of people from labour, business, NGOs, environmental groups, students ... all those people have to come together and hold hands on this to get it through,” said District of North Vancouver mayor Richard Walton, who chairs the mayors’ council on transportation.

Mayors are slated to meet Dec. 5 to hammer out the proposed question, which will propose a funding source — a vehicle levy, sales tax or regional carbon tax — to support a $7.5-billion transit plan, including a new Pattullo Bridge, more buses, light rail for Surrey and a subway in Vancouver.

The question will then go to a vote at the mayors’ council on Dec. 11 before it is sent to the B.C. government for final approval. The province had ordered the mayors’ council to hold a referendum before June 30 next year.

Walton said he doesn’t expect any problems on the ballot itself. He did acknowledge the province could take issue with the funding sources — or the amount of time linked to them — but noted that Transportation Minister Todd Stone has tried to identify the specific sources and how long legislation and policy would take.

“We’ve tried to identify these things early,” Walton said. “At this point, it’s their legislation. It’s certainly incumbent on them to do the best they can to make sure the mechanisms fall into place.”

Mayors argue the transit plan is desperately needed in order to handle another million people — and a potential three million more automobile trips per day — in the region by 2041.

Walton declined to comment on what could happen should the referendum question be vetoed by the province. But he noted the mayors can’t afford any more delays. Elections BC, for instance, needs to know the ballot question by mid-December if the referendum is to be held next spring, which is crucial to getting the student vote.

“The critical thing is to get students registered,” Walton said, adding that student societies have been working behind the scenes. “Obviously, the more people the better, but a high student vote would be critical, I suggest, to getting success. This is to do with transit especially. The people standing in line when the B-Line goes by on Broadway ... we need their support.”

Norman Ruff, a political scientist at the University of Victoria, said access to public transit is one of the top three issues for everyone in the Lower Mainland, but how to finance it is potentially the most divisive aspect of this campaign.

He noted the success of various transit referendums in the U.S. came when voters “are carefully educated with very specific details on the plans and the benefits they can expect,” but there has been little sign of that so far.

The recent Seattle referendum, which proposed a slight increase to the sales tax as well as the $60 vehicle levy (with a $20 discount for low-income residents) was endorsed by close to 60 per cent of voters. But in that case, support for the referendum was cemented before the actual vote.

In Metro Vancouver, several coalitions have already sprung up, including the Metro Vancouver Alliance, a group of non-partisan citizens, and Moving in a Livable Region, which includes the cities of Surrey and Vancouver, Simon Fraser University, YVR, the Vancouver and Surrey boards of trade and taxi, cycling and car-sharing organizations.

Many, like the Surrey and Vancouver boards of trade, say they will play a role in marketing the referendum but are waiting for the ballot question to be released. Some, like Anita Huberman, president of the Surrey Board of Trade, worries time may be running out, noting with people away in December and January, that leaves just February to educate the public.

Iain Black, president and CEO of the Vancouver Board of Trade, said his organization is working on its strategy, saying it’s crucial the vote passes as the referendum will affect everything from public transit to goods and services, the airport, port and roads from Whistler to Hope.

“Everyone realizes just how important this is. It’s a very big deal,” Black said. “The outcome of this referendum is truly going to set the framework for the next 20 years for transit and transportation infrastructure.”

Gavin McGarrigle, B.C. director of Unifor 111, which represents Metro Vancouver’s transit drivers, said the endorsement of the B.C. Federation of Labour will help pull all these groups together.

“People are ready to put their backs into this and fight for a better transit system,” he said, adding the organization will work with other partners to educate the public not only about the mayors’ proposed transportation plan but also the alternatives. “What is plan B? Do we want to see a gridlocked and going backward or a world-class city?” he said.

ksinoski@vancouversun.com

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