Surrey Will Have A New Familiar Face In The Mayor’s Chair Tonight!

As the campaign progressed, the anti-LRT sentiment has begun to subside as people got full information of Surrey’s transit options and it seemed to be going towards LRT with an options open to build Skytrain through Guildford and to Langley as future options but that LRT was the only choice for Surrey now otherwise it will lose out.

By R. Paul Dhillon – DESIBUZZCanada Editor-Founder

SURREY  — Will Surrey’s First’s Tom gill ride the LRT to victory or with Safe Surrey’s Doug McCallum, aka Doug Paaji, sneak in on the Skytrain as Surrey votes to put a new but familiar face in the Mayor’s chair after voting closes at 8pm.

The LRT vs. Skytrain issue has been at the top of the heap of election issues along with crime and housing and many thought that it may decide the 2018 election.

Gill and his old council team, which included Integrity Now mayoral candidate Bruce Hayne, has already set LRT as the transit system best suited for Surrey’s growing population while McCallum jumped on the anti-LRT sentiment and decided to make it his top election plank as well bringing in City police and getting rid of the RCMP.

But as the campaign progressed, the anti-LRT sentiment has begun to subside as people got full information of Surrey’s transit options and it seemed to be going towards LRT with an options open to build Skytrain through Guildford and to Langley as future options but that LRT was the only choice for Surrey now otherwise it will lose out.

Other voices have also joined the call for LRT for Surrey, saying it represents the best option.

The Better Transit and Transportation Coalition said they support the ten-year plan developed by Metro Vancouver mayors, which includes light rail in Surrey.

Chair Peter Ladner argues the money has been dedicated for the second phase of the plan, and starting over with another idea, say a SkyTrain line for Surrey, would likely delay progress in the city for another decade.

“However much you might like SkyTrain, it’s not on the plans, it hasn’t been approved, there is no money for it, and if Surrey were to decide to bail on light rail, the money that’s dedicated for Surrey would very likely go somewhere else, such as the line to UBC,” Ladner told NEWS 1130.

This week a new online poll suggested that a majority of Surrey residents are in favour of a planned light-rail project running between three of the city’ centres.

The study, conducted by Research Co., asked the opinions of 635 adults in Metro Vancouver on the proposed Surrey-Newton-Guildford line and the extension of SkyTrain’s Millennium Line from VCC-Clark to Arbutus in Vancouver.

“Most residents of Metro Vancouver are keen to see these transportation projects through,” said Research Co. president Mario Canseco.

On the topic of the $1.65-billion light-rail line, for which the procurement process began last month, the survey showed that 68 per cent of Metro Vancouver residents say they agree with the construction of the LRT project. Among respondents who are Surrey residents, 62 per cent are in favour of the project, and 34 per cent are not.

“What’s interesting to me is there’s a higher level of strong opposition than moderate, so there’s definitely people who are dead set against this … but there’s definitely a high level of support. It’s almost two to one when you look at support versus opposition to LRT,” said Canseco.

Will LRT vs Skytrain be a big issue when the final vote is tallied – we will know tonigh if it played a big role but given the slowly changing opinion in favour of LRT, we can definitely say that Gill could be the big beneficiary of the switch of support to the LRT.

It has been a very nasty election campaign in Surrey’s South Asian community as two sets of developers backing Gill and McCallum have been fighting it out in the gutter politics territory, complete with X-rated videos and graphics for amusement on Whatsapp. It is completely unnecessary as is those individuals and Groups with selfish and divisive agenda, doing the dirty bidding of others.

NOW GO OUT AND VOTE!