Friday, March 27, 2015

Metro Vancouver, B.C. – "We need these services!” With that clear declaration, Lorraine Logan, on behalf of the Council of Senior Citizens Organizations (COSCO) of British Columbia, became one of the most recent signatories to the Better Transit and Transportation Coalition. “We’re recommending to all our members: vote Yes,” Logan said.

COSCO is the largest federation of seniors’ organizations in B.C., representing seniors for over 50 years. In joining the BTTC, Logan made perfectly clear that hers is a conservative coalition that came to this decision with equal amounts of caution and resolve. Seniors, especially those who are on fixed income, are not a group to celebrate a tax increase.

“We’re taking it on faith that the money will be spent where it’s supposed to be,” Logan said Friday, adding that it’s not just Jimmy Pattison who will be watching the books.

But with the baby boom cresting toward old age, “there are going to be an awful lot of older adults riding transit in the next 10 years,” she said. “We need to invest in HandyDart. We need to invest in public transit generally. We need to get on with it.”

“We’re extremely pleased to have COSCO with us in this fight,” said BTTC campaign co-chair and Vancouver Board of Trade CEO Iain Black. “Seniors, like students, can easily become a forgotten group; their needs can easily get overlooked. It’s important to recognize how broadly new transportation investments will affect the quality of everybody’s life in Metro Vancouver.”

The addition of COSCO now brings the number of members in the coalition to nearly 140, an unprecedented cross-party and multi-interest collaboration.

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Media contact:

Bill Tieleman
Better Transit and Transportation Coalition / West Star Communications
Cell 778-896-0964 or Office 604-844-7827