The No Translink Tax campaign unveiled its new website Thursday, with some dramatic visuals to get its point across.
The site is protesting the possibility of a 0.5 per cent provincial sales tax (PST) hike, which would be used to cover the costs of upgrades across 21 Metro Vancouver municipalities.
The campaign argues that TransLink has more than enough money in its own coffers, and in its CEO’s hands, to pay for transportation upgrades without reaching into the pockets of taxpayers.
"Job one is fixing TransLink so it stops wasting so much of our money — that should have been the top priority for the TransLink mayors' (council) from day one," Jordan Bateman, spokesman for No TransLink Tax and Canadian Taxpayers' Federation, told The Vancouver Sun. "You simply can't throw more money on the fire to burn."
The website features colourful and dramatic cartoons criticizing the company for many decisions in the last decade, including the controversial Main Street poodle art installation.
"To afford the TransLink tax, what are you willing to give up..." the site asks. "A trip to visit your grandchildren? A day trip to Whistler?"
It also names TransLink CEO Ian Jarvis — pictured sitting on a throne with a golden crown — as "The Face Of The Waste" because he reportedly makes $140,000 more than the prime minister, according to the site.
The proposed tax increase is the subject of a transit referendum scheduled for the spring.
Last November, an independent review of two separate system failures made 20 recommendations to improve TransLink's service. The company announced plans to start implementing the changes, estimated to cost $71 million.
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