LRT meeting tonight
Posted May 26, 2011 02:57:28 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Kitchener council will get feedback from residents about the region’s rapid transit plans against the backdrop of growing calls for a referendum.
Following a motion originally brought forward by Ward 9 councillor Frank Etherington, more than a dozen delegates have already registered to speak at tonight’s meeting in Kitchener council chambers. While it has no say in the final decision, Kitchener council voted 5-1 in favour of holding tonight’s meeting. Five councillors declared conflicts of interest and dropped out of the discussion.
Meantime, a new poll commissioned by the anti-rail group Taxpayers for Sensible Transit had the phone lines buzzing at 570 News today. Jeff Allan spent 90 minutes discussing the Ipsos-Reid survey that showed 83 per cent of respondents supporting the idea of having a referendum on the region’s rapid transit plans.
Ipsos-Reid associate vice-president Sean Simpson says it’s unusual to see such strong reaction to a poll question.
“We actually had 59 per cent of residents in Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge who strongly agreed that there should be a referendum before (regional) council makes a final decision,” Simpson noted during an interview with 570’s Gary Doyle.
Another 24 per cent of respondents to the poll indicated they were somewhat supportive of a referendum.
Simpson says the rapid transit debate has been divisive and the only consensus seems to be around the idea of a referendum. But he also admits there seems to be at least some appetite for change.
“One in three say that they like the status quo,” Simpson points out. “That leaves the majority wanting some kind of change but, really, there’s no consensus on what that change should be.”
The public meeting for Kitchener residents starts tonight at 6.
