Blog | October 15, 2013

EDMONTON—36 City of Edmonton municipal election candidates, including 4 mayoralty candidates, responded to nine survey questions posed by the OurLRT coalition about the SE LRT privatization.The OurLRT Coalition feels it is very important that all candidates publicly outline their positions on the LRT P3 as the next council will have to decide if they accept the $250 million in funding from the federal government’s P3 Canada Fund, and will be responsible for negotiating the terms of the thirty year contract if they choose to proceed.94% of the 36 municipal election candidates who responded to survey questions feel that the federal government should not have forced City Council to privatize the new LRT line by tying financial support to a design, build, finance, maintain and operate P3 (DBFOM).Similarly, candidates said they were concerned that the decision to build the SE LRT using a thirty year P3 contract was made in an in-camera meeting. All but two candidates committed to hold a public consultation and will make the details of the contract public prior to voting on it.A significant majority (91%) also said that the City needs to include a no cost opt out clause (after 3 or 4 years) if there are concerns with the running of the LRT. 69% of respondents agreed that the P3 contractor should be required to have their employees represented by the same city unions who are currently operating and maintaining Edmonton public transit.A very strong majority (91%) of candidates agreed that the City should apply for enough funding from other levels of government so that it is not obligated to use the funds from P3 Canada. A recent Parkland Institute report by economics professor Dr. John Loxley from the University of Manitoba showed that the P3 contract may end up costing the City significantly more than the $250 million contributed by P3 Canada just in financing costs. The new “Building Canada” federal infrastructure funds will be available to municipalities starting in 2014.The complete answers from all candidates who responded to the survey are available on the OurLRT website – http://www.ourlrt.ca. While the OurLRT coalition is disappointed that two mayoralty candidates (Karen Leibovici and Kerry Diotte) and a number of council candidates did not respond to the questions on this important municipal issue, these candidates can still fill out the survey and have it posted on the OurLRT website prior to the election.See Edmonton Candidates’ Responses…