Rustad’s closed-door comments show he would cancel projects like the Skytrain extension

LANGLEY – At a campaign stop in Langley, David Eby highlighted how the BC NDP plan for transit expansion will allow people to ride the Skytrain all the way from Langley to UBC. He also committed to deliver more middle-class homes in growing communities like Langley and Surrey. Eby slammed John Rustad for comments that indicated he would cancel or delay major infrastructure projects.

“Traffic jams are the worst. We need to make sure you can get to work and back to loved ones quickly to a home you can afford,” said Eby. “From the Highway 1 expansion to the Surrey-Langley Skytrain, John Rustad’s plan for cuts and cancellations would make your home more expensive and your commute worse. Under our plan, we’ll deliver homes you can afford, an expanded highway, and the first rapid-transit project south of the Fraser River in three decades. We won’t stop until we get it done.”

The BC NDP’s Action Plan for You commits to extending the Broadway Subway past Arbutus, all the way to UBC. This builds on other major transportation projects being delivered, including the Surrey-Langley Skytrain.

At a closed door meeting with the Vancouver Regional Construction Association in August, an attendee asked John Rustad what he would do about the “irresponsible amount of work” happening on major infrastructure projects. Rustad said: “You’re right. There’s so many projects going on right now. We don’t have the capacity to build them all at the same time.”

Rustad’s plan would mean cancelling or delaying projects that people need, like the Surrey-Langley Skytrain extension, or the Highway 1 expansion.

“John Rustad broke his promise to build the Surrey-Langley Skytrain and expand Highway 1 before, and how he says we’re building too many infrastructure projects,” said Eby. “In public, he claims he’ll build more, but behind closed doors he says he would cancel or delay. Cancelling the Langley Skytrain extension and Highway 1 expansion would leave you stuck in traffic. It’s a risk nobody can afford.”
In 2008, John Rustad’s old government promised to extend Skytrain in Surrey and to Broadway by 2020, but they never delivered. He also refused to widen Highway 1, even as the population in the Fraser Valley was skyrocketing. Instead, Rustad voted to put tolls on the Golden Ears and Port Mann bridges to pay for infrastructure, costing drivers $1,500 per year and called the BC NDP action to remove those tolls “a huge slap in the face.”