TransLink directors slate ready
Fifteen nominees have been vetted to serve on TransLink’s new board.
The provincial government passed legislation Thursday to reform the transportation authority and for a council of mayors to then choose the final nine-member board, which will take over Jan. 1.
“We had a pool of about 250 people to choose from,” said former B.C. premier Mike Harcourt.
“We had a choice between excellent and superb.”
He’s the mayors’ representative on a five-member screening panel that interviewed and then shortlisted prospective directors.
The nominees haven’t been revealed, but Harcourt said all 15 live in the Metro Vancouver region and they’re distributed within the region to allow for a geographically balanced board.
“There’s people from south of the Fraser,” he said, as well as nominees north of the river but outside Vancouver.
“We wanted to make sure there was a balance of people who understood the whole region.”
He said they include people with experience in transportation, land use, real estate, major construction projects, finance and human resources.
Harcourt said the panel has also identified three people who would be sworn in as the only directors to run the board in the event the mayors council refuses to choose directors from the list.
The other four panelists included one picked by the province, and others selected by the Vancouver Board of Trade, Greater Vancouver Gateway Council and Chartered Accountants Institute of B.C.
Harcourt said he was in general agreement with the other panelists on who to choose, adding it was not a case of him being outvoted by the others.
He said the region is at a crucial turning point as port expansion triples the volume of containers moved each year and the airport grows strongly.
He expects a serious push to extend rapid transit.
Harcourt predicts completion of the Canada Line by late 2009, the Evergreen Line in 2011 and by 2013 he sees the westward extension of the Millennium Line as well as rail or bus rapid transit lines in Surrey linking the SkyTrain to Guildford and Newton, as well as express buses on Highway 1 from Lougheed to Abbotsford.
“You could have yourself a complete rail base system,” he said, predicting the federal government will soon step up with money for projects like the Evergreen Line.
Part of the work involves a new long range transportation plan TransLink is working on.
“Hopefully by the time we get to next August or September we’ve got a real consensus for a 30-year vision for this region,” Harcourt said.
He’s optimistic the province will pass the new legislation as early as next week, creating the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority.
Meanwhile, opponents of the TransLink overhaul held a rally at Canada Place Wednesday, calling for the province to rethink its plans.
Critics argue the new structure will mean a serious erosion of democracy, with much power shifted away from elected politicians to the appointed, unelected directors chosen mainly by corporate lobby groups.
“This is taxation without representation,” said Keep TransLink Public spokesperson James Steidle.
“It moves TransLink away from greater accountability.”
Not on the list
One transportation expert who has been told he isn’t on the short list is Marvin Shaffer, of White Rock.
A longtime consultant for TransLink and now an adjunct professor in public policy at SFU, he was the chief negotiator for the GVRD when TransLink was first created.
Shaffer said Harcourt told him he didn’t make the short list, despite having the ex-premier’s support.
“They obviously didn’t want me,” Shaffer said, adding he has theories on why.
“I’ve been an outspoken critic of the Canada Line and some of the P3 strategies of the province.”
Harcourt declined to comment.
© Copyright 2007 Langley Times