In a Pique article on Feb. 24, “Whistler working to consolidate CECAP, Big Moves Climate Strategy,” it is reported that Whistler’s mayor and council heard an update on Tuesday, Feb. 22 on the progress of the Community Energy and Climate Action Plan (CECAP), and how the plan will be applied going forward. In the article, Pique journalist Megan Lalonde writes that “The RMOW .... counted wins in its promotion of public and active transportation.”
Does anyone else see the absolute absurdity in the Resort Municipality of Whistler patting itself on the back for doing a good job in promoting public transit at this time?
If a major goal of the climate strategy is to encourage residents and visitors to use public transit, might I suggest an edit to their climate strategy?
Step 1: Actually Have Public Transit.
While we are only four weeks into a legal strike action by the unionized drivers of Whistler Transit Ltd., these two sides have actually been in an ongoing labour dispute, and without a contract, for more than a year, which the current mayor and council were aware of.
From the RMOW’s website, the Transit Management Advisory Committee to the RMOW includes the following members: Councillor Jen Ford; Rob Ringma, BC Transit, Senior Regional Transit Manager; Bronson Bullivant, BC Transit, Senior Transit Planner; Juan-Carlos Gomez, Whistler Transit Ltd.; Colin Hoffmann, Whistler Transit Ltd.
The RMOW website also indicates that this committee meets multiple times a year, including previously in: October 2021, August 2021, July 2021, March 2021, etc.
I am now wondering if the mayor and council have spent the last year actually focused on issues that are most important to the community, including doing anything and everything they could to prevent this impending transit strike.
In the year leading up to this strike, could the mayor and council have spent more time communicating the community’s transit needs to BC Transit? Did the mayor and council spend any time discussing subsidies for the local transit system? In the last year, could the mayor and council have made more efforts to reach out to the provincial government about this labour dispute, instead of “requesting a meeting with the Minister of Labour” only a few days ago, four weeks into this strike?
These and other questions to think about before the next municipal election...
