REHASHING THE LRT SCAM IN WATERLOO REGION

Today's Waterloo Region Record carries an article from Peter Shawn Taylor titled "Is Hamilton's LRT from an alternative universe?". Essentially Mr. Taylor is describing the apparently major difference in attitude and opposition to a massive expenditure on a fixed route mass transit system. Despite Hamilton being less than an hour away by car citizens and politicians there have a significantly different attitude to spending "free" money from either the feds or the province.

Mr. Taylor also gives credit where it is due locally. He gives Regional Chair Ken Seiling "credit" for clever manoeuvering combined with fortuitous timing around the 2010 municipal election. Unfortunately all the regional politicians who claimed to be against a large tax increase locally to help pay for the LRT, just ahead of the 2010 municipal election, managed to make a 180 degree turn in their thinking when after the election they managed to vote in favour of proceeding with the LRT. Unfortunately these regional politicians were not appropriately disciplined at the 2014 municipal election even if it was too late to stop the LRT.

Overall Mr. Taylor clearly was never in favour of our local LRT and probably for very good reasons. Car traffic will be negatively affected, taxes will rise and many businesses have suffered during the extended construction of the rail system. Oh and the route itself from one mall to another seems somewhat bizarre. Finally will the system be well used? Will it be used other than for the initial startup period just to check it out?