The RAV Line is proceeding with so many fingers in the pie that everyone will be able to point fingers elsewhere when things go wrong. It is essential that the provincial government accept full responsibility, and if necessary amend the Budget Transparency and Accountability Act so no future provincial government will be able to hide from its accountability. There will be two provincial elections before all the bills are in.

Richmond is expected to have half the growth of the Tri-Cities by 2021 (see http://www.gvrd.bc.ca/growth/lrsp/tables.pdf). In 2010 the public will see the consequences of abandoning the Livable Region Plan in order to build transit to the wrong place, but by then it will be too late.

The Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority is not a separate order of government, it is the creation of a provincial statute, the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority Act. The ability of TransLink to finance any shortfall on the RAV Line depends on what taxing authority is granted to them by the province. Recall that during the last election campaign, Gordon Campbell said that TransLink would not be allowed to tax vehicles unless a referendum was held (New Era Document, page 9). Accountability for the RAV Line rests with the Campbell government, the only elected body with authority over the project.

The Request for Proposals for the RAV Line defines "Concession Agreement" as "the final contract between RAVCO and the Concessionaire for the design, construction, financing, operation and maintenance of the System". The covering letter from Jane Bird, Project Director, to Pat Jacobsen, CEO of TransLink, says that "The concession agreement, which is the contract with the proponent team, is confidential to ensure that the procurement process remains competitive and to protect the confidentiality of proponents' commercial and intellectual property." When asked how the finances of the project will work to cover the risks and likely deficit, proponents refer to the role the private sector will play, but the public will not be allowed to read the contract with the private sector partner - not until it ends up in court in an inevitable dispute between the province, TransLink and the private contractor.

The Campbell government promised to be the most open, accountable and democratic government in Canada. It is not open to treat the "Concession Agreement" as confidential. At the very least, the Campbell government should assure that the major capital provisions of the Budget Transparency and Accountability Act will apply to the RAV Line project and that overruns will not be treated as the sole responsibility of TransLink and thereby not captured by the reporting requirements of the Act.