VANCOUVER, B.C.: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation criticizing Premier David Eby’s announcement regarding a $479-million bailout for TransLink.
“This bailout comes at the worst possible time for taxpayers,” said Carson Binda, B.C. Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. “Everyone in B.C. is tightening their belts right now. TransLink needs to at least try to save money instead of taking more money from taxpayers.”
In 2020, TransLink received a $644 million bailout to help them cope with the pandemic. Then in 2022, it got another bailout of $167 million.
“The government keeps giving TransLink more money and it keeps needing more bailouts,” said Binda. “They’ve shown us that they are far too wasteful to trusted with another dime from taxpayer’s pocketbooks.”
Kevin Quinn, the CEO of TransLink, took home a salary of $474,000 last year. In 2020, former CEO Kevin Desmond took home a salary of $448,000. In total, 20 executives took home more than a quarter of a million dollars each.
In 2020, TransLink’s total expenditures were $1.7 billion, which has ballooned to more than $2 billion in 2022.
“Eby is using the last of the surplus on big bailouts for TransLink,” said Binda. “We need to see plans to pay down the provincial debt, instead of more waste”.
By law, any remaining provincial surplus must go towards debt repayment by the end of March. Total provincial debt will stand at $108 billion by the end of the 2023 fiscal year. Interest on that debt will cost taxpayers more than $9 million per day in 2023.
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For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact:
Carson Binda,
British Columbia Director,
Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
Cell: 604 719 1677
Email: Cbinda@taxpayer.com
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