ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[NotStan]

I don't really think any of this is hate-filled. There's a vocal minority that will complain about anything. But most people just want to see results, equal treatment, and don't want to be lied to or deceived. Private businesses receive the same scrutiny internally.

I'm pretty pragmatic and understand that not much can be done about the delays at this point. But it's the politicians jobs to control the narrative. For the general public, it just looks like the politicians deceived us about the timeline, and Jay Aissa et al were right. And on top of it, we will be paying for 2 years of non-service. I expect the tone is going to start to shift soon and our region politicians will start throwing Bomardier under the bus to seem like they are on the people's side.

I think people would just prefer some transparency. Are there even any contingency plans at this point? What if Bombardier goes bankrupt. It would be nice to see an honest quote from the Region regarding this:
"We have no idea when the trains are going to arrive, or when service will start. Optimistically we are hoping for 2018 service, but that is unlikely. Bombarider has committed to X date, but they have delayed their schedule Y times in the past. Based on this, we have little confidence they can meet their new delivery date. We are pursuing all avenues for recourse, including legal action - however the recent Metrolinx  case has shown that would not be prudent. We are working with Bombarider and Grand Linq to resolve these delays. "

First of all, can we stop making misleading statements about the delay on this forum.  It is extremely unlikely to be 2 years at this point.  Even if Grandlinq finishes exactly on time, Bombardier's current schedule has us paying for 6-8 months, even if we think that's off way off base, 12-16 months is still well under 2 years.  

Second of all, I hear the private business argument all the time, but I consider it just nonsense.  Anyone who's worked for a large corporation knows bureaucracy is not the exclusive domain of the government.  ANY large entity is prone to bureaucratic difficulties, and private corporations are NO exception to this.  Further, there are reasons why bureaucracy is in place, in many cases it serves to protect people.  Most people who complain seem entirely unwilling to inform themselves about this, or even think critically about it.

You also mention transparency, I think our government is fairly transparent.  But most people don't bother to take the time to inform themselves.  There was a letter to the editor printed in the record from a citizen of Cambridge; it was an angry rant about how the city's budget was secret.  It took me all of 30 seconds on Google to find the full Cambridge budget.

Now, I'll agree with all the general points you make, it is important to be prudent and to hold our government accountable, but I will disagree that there isn't a very loud, very angry sounding anti-everything government, anti-any-taxes-at-all contingent who are quite vocal right now, and you admit this is different.  I cannot say how big this group is, or if they are just loud, and I am not old enough to know if they are new or not though.  But certainly, I think they've put the fear of death (election loss) in every politician in the country.  It seems nearly impossible to levy new taxes or fees on anything.  Just look at Wynne shutting down tolls on Toronto highways, so they clearly have quite a bit of clout.

>>First of all, can we stop making misleading statements about the delay on this forum.  It is extremely unlikely to be 2 years >>at this point.  Even if Grandlinq finishes exactly on time, Bombardier's current schedule has us paying for 6-8 months, even >>if we think that's off way off base, 12-16 months is still well under 2 years.  
I'm not sure the statements about the delays are misleading.  Is everyone just supposed to accept Bombardier's statements even though they keep slipping?  So while 12-16 months is still well under 2 years I have no confidence Bombardier can deliver in that timeline because they continue to miss revised schedule after revised schedule.  Another factor regarding the vocal opposition is that I think Bombardier is a polarizing company - many people resent the huge subsidies taxpayers have given them.  Then when they miss deliveries it is doubley galling.   I'm sure there will be lots of finger pointing but to date Bombardier has not been effective in transfering any fault to Metrolinx or ROW.