This is no way to run a railroad: comments on the Canada Line
February 15, 2006 in Opinion
The following is a summary of Mr. Ward’s remarks to a public meeting of the Board of Directors of Canada Line Rapid Transit Inc. (“CLCO”) on February 15, 2006:
Mr. Ward introduced himself and stated that he was appearing, not as legal counsel for the DoRavRight Coalition, but as a taxpayer and private individual. He noted that a few weeks previously, CLCO had asserted that it was a “model for best practices in governance” and took issue with that characterization. Mr. Ward said he had grave and fundamental concerns about CLCO’s governance due to its misrepresentations, secrecy and missed targets.
Mr. Ward asserted that CLCO (RAVCO) had made two major misrepresentations to the public; it had publicly stated in February 2005 that the project cost would be $1.72 B in actual dollars and then revealed a few months later that the cost would be $1.9 B (in $2003) and it had represented that much of the Cambie Street segment of the line would be constructed with an underground bored tunnel only to later disclose that it would be built using cut and cover cast in place construction.
Mr. Ward suggested that, given the amount of public funds involved in the project, everything should be open and transparent. He complained that the Concession Agreement, monthly CEO reports since March 2005 and the certificates of independent engineering firm RW Beck had not been disclosed to the public. He asked whether the Board would make these documents available.
Finally, Mr. Ward noted that the Final Project Report was to have been released to the public by December 31, 2005 and that it still had not been disclosed. He queried whether the public could trust CLCO to deliver the Canada Line on schedule and on budget when it seemed to be unable to deliver a document on time.
Chair Larry Bell and CEO Jane Bird assured Mr. Ward that both the Final Project Report amd the Concession Agreement would be released soon.
(As of February 22, 2006, these documents have still not been disclosed)