Frankly Speaking

Lois Jackson has been an integral part of Delta council for 45 years, the last 19 as mayor. She announced Monday that she is seeking another term as a councillor in the Oct. 20 election. This post has been updated to include all candidates who filed nomination papers. Four years ago, Delta voters didn’t get a chance to elect their mayor. Longtime Mayor Lois Jackson won the post by acclamation – an extreme rarity in civic politics in most B.C. communities. Jackson had earlier said it would be her last term as mayor, and her civic opponents recognized here many years of service in a unique way. First elected as mayor in 1999, Jackson is the longest-serving municipal politician in Metro Vancouver. She was first elected to Delta council in 1973 – the first woman ever elected to council. And she may not be finished yet. She announced last week that she is seeking a term as a councillor – as part of the Achieving For Delta slate headed by former municipal administrator Ge...

When the BC Liberal government under then-premier Gordon Campbell decided to replace the original Port Mann Bridge (pictured) and upgrade Highway 1 between Vancouver and Langley, it failed to see how unfair it was to only charge bridge users a toll to pay for the entire project. That inequity has been rectified by their successors, the new NDP government under Premier John Horgan. Stephen Rees photo On Friday, Premier John Horgan announced that tolls would be removed from the Port Mann Bridge and the Golden Ears Bridge, effective Sept. 1. This fulfills a key election promise made by the NDP – one that likely made the difference between winning and losing the provincial election. They picked up four seats in North Surrey and Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows (and a fifth one in North Delta). There is no doubt that the pledge to remove the tolls was a key factor in some voters switching their loyalty from the BC Liberals to the NDP in all those ridings. (The importance of this pr...

The issue of bridge tolls should be an important one in the May provincial election, particularly in the 19 seats between Chilliwack and Delta where drivers are most directly impacted. Gary Hee is running as an independent candidate in Surrey South, specifically on a promise to remove the tolls. Photo copyright nobridgetollsinbc.com A review of bridge tolling policy won’t happen until after the next election. The decision by Transportation Minister Todd Stone is clearly in the interests of the current BC Liberal government, but it may not be in the interest of bridge users. The best time to apply pressure to any government is just before an election ­- not afterwards. Stone said last month there is no rush to do such a review. The province has decided it is going ahead with the Deas Island bridge which will replace the Massey Tunnel, and it will be tolled. “If they (the Mayors’ Council) move forward with a tolled bridge to replace the Pattullo, that would leave the...

The Alex Fraser Bridge is under more pressure each day, due to growth in the South Fraser region and the province's tolling policies Last week’s announcement of a new interchange at Highway 91 and 72 Avenue in North Delta shows that the provincial government is finally aware of at least some of the critical issues related to the Alex Fraser Bridge. Transportation Minister Todd Stone and Delta Mayor Lois Jackson announced the plans to turn the intersection into an interchange on Wednesday, June 8. The $30 million project will be completed by the fall of 2018. The Highway 91/72 Avenue intersection has been controlled by a traffic light since the bridge opened in 1986. The intersection has long caused significant traffic delays, particularly for northbound traffic, because of the ever-increasing volumes of traffic on Highway 91. Since the bridge opened, North Delta’s population has grown significantly, and Surrey’s has grown even more substantially. Much of the growth i...