8/13/2019 Jan31-14_MacDonald Letter to Waterloo Region

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January 31, 2014

Region of Waterloo

Ken Seiling, Chair1st Floor, 150 Frederick StreetKitchener, ON N2G 4J3

Dear Chair Seiling & Members of Regional Council,

Whether you live in Waterloo, Kitchener, Cambridge or in one of the townships, everyone has anopinion on the Regions LRT project.

When Regional Council approved the LRT back in 2011, taxpayers assumed Council had donetheir due diligence. Residents presumed key questions had been asked and answered. Manytaxpayers were alarmed to discover the Region made a decision on the biggest infrastructure

project in our history without knowing the route, conducting a cost-benefit analysis or knowing theprojects cost. Most families would never sign a contract to buy a new car without knowing itsexact cost and the amount of the monthly payment. Yet thats exactly what the Region did.

It is also unacceptable for the Region to hide behind self-imposed project deadlines in an effort tolimit public input. With a municipal election in just 269 days, there is no good reason to expeditedecision-making, especially since:

The $300 million in provincial funding and $265 million in federal funding committed bysenior levels of government is not date sensitive.

Committed provincial funding will still be in place even if a change in government occursafter a possible spring election. Even Regional Councillor Jim Wideman told the Waterloo

Region Record that, he doesn't worry a new government would back out. The Region is under no pressure to execute a final agreement with senior levels of

government or to select a construction consortium in the immediate term.

Im calling on Regional Council to delay making any further contractual agreements on the

LRT until after the October 27, 2014 municipal election.This will provide residents theopportunity to participate in making the final decision - whatever it might be.

On numerous occasions, members of the public, lower tier politicians and various media outletshave been denied access to information on the LRT project. By stonewalling citizens, journalistsand even provincial planners, the Region has turned what could have been a community-buildingproject into an unnecessarily divisive issue.

It shouldnt have taken a freedom of information request by Record columnist Jeff Outhit todiscover that:

Ontario Ministry of Transportation planners repeatedly asked the Region for acomprehensive cost/benefit analysis - and never got it.

Provincial planners struggled to understand the Regions economic logic behind the LRT.

Provincial bureaucrats tried without success to show that LRT transit benefits exceedcosts. They were also startled by the rising cost of the $818-million rail transit plan.

55 Northfield Drive East, Box 399

Waterloo, ON N2K 3T6

T/F: 519.888.1888

8/13/2019 Jan31-14_MacDonald Letter to Waterloo Region

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Taxpayers are also skeptical of what they hear from the Region because the story keepschanging:

Regional Council discarded evidence that rapid buses deliver more value for money butthen relied on value for money in planning the LRT.

Since 2011 the Region assured taxpayers the LRT was affordable, and then just this weekflip-flopped saying taxpayers cant afford to finance the LRT as originally planned.

On September 25, 2013 by a 10-3 vote the Region rejected a motion requesting a detailedfigure on cancelling the project then:

o On December 13, 2013 Regional Councillor Jane Brewer discounted an anti-LRTonline petition in Cambridge saying, They have no idea of what the cost is goingto be to cancel this project.

o And earlier this week a Record editorial stated that, no one knows exactly whatthe cost would be, regional officials say it could top $200 million.

Taxpayers deserve an open, honest and accountable municipal government. Every taxpayer inWaterloo Region should be able to access information to help them better understand how theirmoney is spent. Im calling on the Region to disclose the information that RegionalCouncillors relied upon when making various decisions on the LRT.

If the Region has done their due diligence the LRT decision will stand up under scrutiny. Localtaxpayers cannot make an informed decision when only a select few know how and why transitdecisions are made. The Region should embrace not fear disclosing project details to the public.

Leadership is about having the courage and conviction to stand by your decisions and theconfidence to explain how you made them.

I look forward to your timely response.

Sincerely,

Dave MacDonald