Agreement lays the foundation to unlock billions in federal funding to improve regional transportation, reduce traffic congestion 

VANCOUVER – Today, the Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation and B.C.’s provincial government reached a political breakthrough, solving a longstanding gap in regional funding for public transit and active transportation in the region.

This landmark agreement lays the foundation for B.C. to access billions in federal investment to improve Metro Vancouver’s and B.C.’s transportation systems – and soon help advance most of Metro Vancouver’s $7.5 billion transportation and transit plan.

“This political breakthrough sets the foundation to improve and modernize the region’s transportation system and ease traffic,” said David Suzuki Foundation science and policy director Ian Bruce. “Today’s agreement wouldn’t have happened without strong collaboration between the province and the Mayors’ Council, and the incentive of the federal government’s national transit infrastructure fund.  Everyone living in the Lower Mainland should appreciate that this investment means less time in traffic, and more time with doing things they enjoy with the people they care about.”

The David Suzuki Foundation has been a vocal advocate for better transportation and strong leadership on climate change in Metro Vancouver for more than a decade, including the publication of the groundbreaking research paper, Breaking gridlock, on the dire transit deficit in 2016.  The B.C. government adopted several policy recommendations from the report within the last year.

“Our research has shown that since B.C.’s 2008 Provincial Transit Plan, the province has under-funded transit, while the Metro Vancouver population has only risen – leading to increased traffic, gridlock and rising carbon emissions,” Bruce said. “It’s a huge relief to know that the political gridlock – the key barrier to unlocking billions in federal funding to modernize our region’s transportation system – has been solved.”

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Note to media: The David Suzuki Foundation’s Ian Bruce and Tom Green are available on-site at today’s announcement for comment.

  • Ian Bruce, Director of Science and Policy, 604-306-5095
  • Tom Green, Climate Solutions Policy Analyst, 778-879-2037

For more information, please contact:

Brendan Glauser, David Suzuki Foundation, bglauser@davidsuzuki.org, 604-356-8829