Millennium Line - Broadway Extension: Planning & Pre-Construction

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by queetz@home

Justin says a lot of things but I doubt the Feds would ever fund 50% of the Broadway Extension while he is the Prime Minister. Too Eastern centric...

Don't underestimate JT's connection to BC. And leaders ignore the west coast at their peril...

[AMTDGT]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Don't underestimate JT's connection to BC. And leaders ignore the west coast at their peril...

The federal liberal parties MO since trudeau #1's days has been to give Quebec everything they want and when the complaining gets too loud from the rest of Canada, throw a small bone to the complainers. That bone gets smaller the farther west you go.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by AMTDGT

The federal liberal parties MO since trudeau #1's days has been to give Quebec everything they want and when the complaining gets too loud from the rest of Canada, throw a small bone to the complainers. That bone gets smaller the farther west you go.

Please show me the proof of this for our current PM.

[sweetnhappy]

Not sure why this wasn't mentioned earlier but TransLink also has a survey for this project: Millennium Line Broadway Extension Survey, which is open from January 23 to February 13, 2017.

[excel]

There was also an open house at Douglas Park yesterday. People from translink and cov were answering questions and taking feedback. Very informative but not much new that we haven't already covered in this thread.

[Metro-One]

I filled out the survey, but have we not done this step 3 or more times already?

I was hoping to get some more information on the station placements, entrances, and how it will link to the Canada Line.

Maybe next round eh?

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

I filled out the survey, but have we not done this step 3 or more times already?

Same. Really not sure what they were trying to achieve here.

[Marshal]

That was laughable! It was all good relative to my position, BUT what a stupid series of leading questions within a bubble.

[Jimbo604]

People can talk and plan and survey endlessly. Without the funding gap being closed this project is going absolutely nowhere. I've looked at projects in Seattle with less history, discussion and planning than this line and they are/have moved ahead to construction/completion because the funding was secured.

Here's a survey question they could add to their survey:

Will this line be completed in:
A). 2040
B). 2045
C). 2050

[Genauso]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Please show me the proof of this for our current PM.

Trudeau and Minister for Science Kirsty Duncan (@KirstyDuncanMP) in mid December announced $2 billion of funding for university research. There was also $400 million for maintenance and building upgrades to Quebec post-secondary institutions, which I don't think was part of the $2 billion headline.

I would like to see all funding listed in one place, but as I recall it amounted to over-representation by rural Ontario, all Quebec, and an absurd share to the Atlantic provinces.

It started with the national railway, and the system hasn't changed since. How about equalizing the spending the Federal government put into the St Lawrence seaway, CN Tower, Mirabel airport, Champlain bridge, etc.. Maybe strike from the charter of Air Canada or CN Rail that their HQ must be located in Montreal as a condition of the privatization. Maybe decentralize the offices and museums in Ottawa. Anything west of the great lakes loses on contributions, and on the benefits of federation. It's just the result of how we locked in votes over a century ago -- it's not a partisan thing, Harper did the same by taking billions from BC forestry and pumping more into GM and Chrysler. Look at which MPs make up the fisheries/oceans committee, it's usually 1 BC 2 Ontario and a dozen from PEI.

Someone in the field of political science published their thesis about this as a book, and what I remember is that under Jean Chretien's government all BC got was the renovation of the Stanley Theater on Cambie St thanks to Hedy Fry I guess, at a time when other places got highways and bridges. It is comical, the running tally of regional sacrifice and benefits would be ridiculous.

p.s. :
I searched for the circa 1999 announcement for the renovation of the Stanley Theater to provide a comparison of the projects that received 100x-1000x more money, but what came up was Hedy Fry 2 weeks ago glowing about $300,000 for the Cultch theater which she made sound like a very important thing.

p.p.s.
Google Books Search: Hedy Fry Stanley Theatre
There are two books from 2003 on the subject

Parliament report of 1999 Canada Infrastructure Work Program (CIWP). Federal spending $2.4 billion, so a BC share ought to have been at least $240 million, but the west coast try-hards came in under budget. So generous

It would have been a mighty fine time to build the Millennium line out to UBC though.
Kind of like the recently $400 million for Quebec universities could have tipped the balance to start on better connecting UBC and SFU today with subway/gondola, to provide more affordable student housing.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Genauso

Trudeau and Minister for Science Kirsty Duncan (@KirstyDuncanMP) in mid December announced $2 billion of funding for university research. There was also $400 million for maintenance and building upgrades to Quebec post-secondary institutions, which I don't think was part of the $2 billion headline.

I would like to see all funding listed in one place, but as I recall it amounted to over-representation by rural Ontario, all Quebec, and an absurd share to the Atlantic provinces.

I appreciate the history lesson, but I did specifically ask for this PM/Government, of which this is the only example you provided.

I did some googling and saw the following:

http://news.gc.ca/web/article-en.do?nid=1170469

Details of the program: SIF will support up to 50 percent of a project's eligible costs. The remaining funding will come from other partners, such as provincial and territorial governments, and the institutions themselves.

Furthermore:
The Government of Canada is investing $98.71 million in 10 projects at the Université de Montréal and its affiliated institutions, HEC Montréal and Polytechnique Montréal.

With that $98M figure, the Province of Quebec is funding $160M for the same projects. So, maybe the better question is, where is the Province of BC on these initiatives? They've already shown they won't budge a penny more on transit, after the Federal government upped their funding from 33% to 50%. Perhaps your anger is misguided. If you have any more links on SIF funding announcements, I'd love to see them. Decisions were supposed to be made in 2016 but that's the only one I could find.


Edit: Found some info on UBC:

https://science.ubc.ca/news/federal-prov...t-renew-ubcs-life-sciences-teaching-labs

The Government of Canada is providing $32.5 million for this project, with an additional $11.8 million coming from the Government of British Columbia. UBC will contribute an additional $35.6 million to the project.

Again, it looks like the BC Liberals are really cheaping out here.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

I appreciate the history lesson, but I did specifically ask for this PM/Government, of which this is the only example you provided.

I did some googling and saw the following:

http://news.gc.ca/web/article-en.do?nid=1170469

With that $98M figure, the Province of Quebec is funding $160M for the same projects. So, maybe the better question is, where is the Province of BC on these initiatives? They've already shown they won't budge a penny more on transit, after the Federal government upped their funding from 33% to 50%. Perhaps your anger is misguided. If you have any more links on SIF funding announcements, I'd love to see them. Decisions were supposed to be made in 2016 but that's the only one I could find.

Edit: Found some info on UBC:

https://science.ubc.ca/news/federal-prov...t-renew-ubcs-life-sciences-teaching-labs

Again, it looks like the BC Liberals are really cheaping out here.

What you're describing is largely 'par for the course.' BC is usually on the short end of the stick for federal financing.

[cganuelas1995]

Originally Posted by Jimbo604

Here's a survey question they could add to their survey:

Will this line be completed in:
A). 2040
B). 2045
C). 2050

A better question they could add would be "would this project be subject to procrastination for another project to the suburbs?"

[Genauso]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

I appreciate the history lesson, but I did specifically ask for this PM/Government, of which this is the only example you provided.

With that $98M figure, the Province of Quebec is funding $160M for the same projects. So, maybe the better question is, where is the Province of BC on these initiatives?

My quick answer is that I couldn't tell you what funding went where, because the federal websites suck and they announce information exclusively to the local media as part of a smart PR strategy.

I was conflating 2 different programs. @KirstyDuncan announced research grants, supposedly based on scientific merit, but they excluded meritorious work and focused on universities in the maritimes that have become diploma mills and might shut down without it.

@MinisterISED (Navdeep Bains) is in charge of the $2 billion up to 50% matching funding.

You gave some reasons why the funding earmarked for BC might not come. Without mentioning individual personalities (which is not a legitimate reason to rob a large population), there needs to be bureaucracy as there is nothing worse than waste and theft, which can stop a good project if paperwork isn't submitted on time. This has been the case in the past. After the deadline passes, it's a new budget and no one cares if you went hungry at the table last time.

But in designing these programs, there is intention to get headlines in certain important electoral districts. For those districts, there are always ways around any obstacle to make sure a certain amount is spent. (see: $50 million in money earmarked for border security spent in the 20k pop'n town of Huntsville for hosting the G8 in Ontario cottage country, instead of upgrading border crossings to reduce delays in BC)

You say that with respect to BC, there is a system and the various levels of government don't care.

I say the problem is they don't care, that BC is not relevant to them. It's to early to say if this government will be responsive and in turn relevant to BC, but they would probably be the first ever.

This government is making more spending announcements in BC, and actually delivering unlike the roadside sign enthusiasts in the Federal Conservative or Christy Clark party. But the federal government is spending a lot more, the important question is what the relative funding is.



All announcements were supposed to have been made in summer/fall 2016, according to the government. There are some smaller announcements in the last week or two for BC, including $70 million for Camosun and Royal Roads colleges on Vancouver Island. Trudeau skipped BC with his 'townhall circuit', maybe some positive-news announcements have been held back as he is in town for the Chinese lunar new year.

[Jebby]

Originally Posted by Jimbo604

Here's a survey question they could add to their survey:

Will this line be completed in:
A). 2040
B). 2045
C). 2050

And none of those will be the correct answer.

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by excel

There was also an open house at Douglas Park yesterday. People from translink and cov were answering questions and taking feedback. Very informative but not much new that we haven't already covered in this thread.

two more this week:

Tues: Croatian Cultural Centre
http://vancouver.ca/news-calendar/Millennium-Line-Broadway-Extension-open-houses-January-31.aspx

Wed: Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral
http://vancouver.ca/news-calendar/millennium-line-broadway-extension-open-houses-february-1.aspx

[swimmer_spe]

I have a feeling this will be the next line to be built. Surrey's lines will probably be delayed by Translink for as long as possible till they agree to Skytrain technology. So, that only leaves this extension. With Trudeau throwing money at cities for transit improvements, it would be stupid not to use it.

I feel by 2020, there will be shovels in the ground for this extension.

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

I have a feeling this will be the next line to be built. Surrey's lines will probably be delayed by Translink for as long as possible till they agree to Skytrain technology. So, that only leaves this extension. With Trudeau throwing money at cities for transit improvements, it would be stupid not to use it.

I feel by 2020, there will be shovels in the ground for this extension.

Only the Expo Line extension needs Skytrain - the L line can easily be buses for many years (of course Surrey city council will disagree).

[casper]

Originally Posted by Genauso

Trudeau and Minister for Science Kirsty Duncan (@KirstyDuncanMP) in mid December announced $2 billion of funding for university research. There was also $400 million for maintenance and building upgrades to Quebec post-secondary institutions, which I don't think was part of the $2 billion headline.

I would like to see all funding listed in one place, but as I recall it amounted to over-representation by rural Ontario, all Quebec, and an absurd share to the Atlantic provinces.

Most capital funding for university research is done through CFI. Here is the list:

https://www.innovation.ca/funded-projects

BC has around 13% of Canada's population. Quebec is around 23%. Looks like BC getting a bit more than half of Quebec.

On the transit front, I would expect that standard three way split that has been the case for decades in Canada.

[dleung]

The $2 billion ironically-named Canada line got only $450M from the feds.