Do you understand this proposed referendum question?
Posted January 16, 2014 11:20 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts is the first out of the gate to propose the question to be posed during the upcoming transit-funding referendum.
It reads: “Do you support the reduction in gas tax, a cap on the existing three per cent on property taxes for TransLink and an implementation of a fair and equitable road pricing policy under one dollar to fund the expansion of the transportation system?”
But would ordinary voters understand the question enough to make an informed choice?
News1130 took to the streets of Vancouver to see what people made of it.
“It means raising taxes so they can fund more public transportation,” said one man.
“I think it’s a good idea,” said a woman waiting for the bus, but she couldn’t explain what precisely the good idea was.
“A lot of areas to cover in one question,” said another.
“Can you distill the question? Then I could answer yes or no,” said a perplexed man.
“You can’t really learn a lot from that question. You can’t give a proper response from that,” noted another bystander.
“I think your average voter is not going to spend longer than what it takes to read that question to figure out what exactly the question is asking,” added a woman.
SFU transportation analyst and former city councillor Gord Price says a fair question may not come any clearer.
“This question is trying to keep it simple. Each part of the question has complexities to it.”
Political scientist John Redekop says the proposal for “road pricing” isn’t specific enough.
“If that’s the referendum question, I would predict disaster because people don’t understand it.”
For the record, the question is asking if you’re in favour of road tolls.
