LETTER

 

----   STO light-rail boondoggle 

 

Like many, I am still weighing my vote. Everyone has different reasons for attaching to one party or candidate. I don't think I fall into any obvious group.

⁠ My main concern is with local issues like who supports financing for the STO's light-rail scheme. I have been an Aylmer resident for 22 years and I think spending on a light-rail system is a huge mistake that would burden Gatineau and Quebec taxpayers for decades. The cost of the infrastructure to support this boondoggle is huge. Consider light-rail's $2.1 billion budget, a budget they admit will increase! Consider that if this light-rail budget shifted entirely to the purchase of fully electric buses, each at a high end price tag of $1 million per bus, we would have 2,000 buses! Today the STO has only 350 buses! So for 1/4 of that light-rail budget, $500 million, we could replace the entire STO fleet with 350 fully electric buses and have $150 million to spend on maintenance and infrastructure for fully electric vehicles. 

We would still have $1.6 billion of that initial light-rail budget to spend on more important things, like doctors, and we would not have to put a single shovel in the ground nor budget for rail maintenance year after year!

I have no idea how we could find ourselves even considering light-rail, because it is such a huge waste of money that will bleed resources day after day just to maintain -- and when breakdowns occur the whole system grinds to a halt! This plan is madness!

I know there is support in our riding for this project but that doesn't mean we should roll over for whatever gang of robbers is trying to stuff light-rail down our throats.

My only recourse, when it comes to this light-rail debacle, is with my vote. Any support for this theft of resources (called light-rail) will impact my vote and I am seeking a response from all parties.

⁠Ronald Temchuk

Aylmer