The Province of Vancouver?

[Xerx]

So, I was just browsing the web, and I stumbled upon the the Wikipedia entry for the proposed Province of Toronto(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proposa...nce_of_Toronto). This just got me wondering: would it work for Vancouver? I personally find the idea of turning Metro Vancouver into a quasi city-state like Hong Kong or Hamburg interesting. Population-wise we'd just after Manitoba.

What do you guys think? Any potential benefits or drawbacks you can think of? Just thinking about transportation, I can't help to think this would make things like implementing road pricing or a vehicle levy easier.

[mezzanine]

IMO it would be a bad idea. even within metro IMO eastern Langley more affinity to abbotsford and the fraser valley than to vancouver. prince rupert would be a competitor to the port of vancouver, as with abby airport and YVR and we would not be able to coordinate development. Hydro is provincially controlled and we would lose direct access to inexpensive hydro from the east and north.

IMO we could implement road pricing now if we had the political courage. We'd still have the same political road blocks to tolls if metro vancouver was its own province.

[Xerx]

Prince Rupert and Abbotsford Airport are already competitors for Port of Metro Vancouver and YVR respectively. Besides, ports and airports are more affected by things happening federally than provincially.

I'd think it would be easier if Metro become a province, because then you could turn Translink into a ministry of Transport with full control over the roads and such. Or maybe merge ICBC, the ministry of transport and Translink to implement road pricing and/or a vehicle levy.

[mezzanine]

Originally Posted by Xerx

Prince Rupert and Abbotsford Airport are already competitors for Port of Metro Vancouver and YVR respectively. Besides, ports and airports are more affected by things happening federally than provincially.

I'd think it would be easier if Metro become a province, because then you could turn Translink into a ministry of Transport with full control over the roads and such. Or maybe merge ICBC, the ministry of transport and Translink to implement road pricing and/or a vehicle levy.

I suppose that's true about ports and airports. The port authorities are pretty much autonomous and develop according to market demand and federal fiat. New york uses newark's airport.

still think it's a bad idea though.

[whatnext]

Only a good idea if the Province of Vancouver has the power to overrule the flakiness that emits from the City of Vancouver.

[EastVanMark]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Only a good idea if the Province of Vancouver has the power to overrule the flakiness that emits from the City of Vancouver.

Agreed X1000

[mezzanine]

@xerx

see? we'd have the same political road blocks if metro vancouver became its own province.

[Metro-One]

If anywhere should be its own province in BC, its Vancouver Island (which use to be its own separate colony). It would be the west's PEI, though much larger and with 5X the population...and it would have a real city.

[Zassk]

^^^ I have often wondered if there is appetite for a province of Vancouver Island. It seems like the island has a somewhat different political inclination from most of the rest of the province.

[red-paladin]

I agree that Vancouver Island being separate (as it once was) makes more sense.

[dleung]

Toronto consistently gets screwed by Ontario, hence the province-of-Toronto sentiment.

In BC, the province is Vancouver's best ally, moreso than any municipal government here. They didn't call El Gordo the "mega-mayor" for no reason.

[Whalleyboy]

I also have to agree If any where became its own province I think the Island would be better off doing it

Also maybe for Vancouver the provincial government has been better. But thats like due to the fact a lot of the premiers for the last little bit have been coming from there. So they have Vancouver coming first on their mind

[Canadian Mind]

I'd be for the Island becoming it's own province as it was originally supposed to be.

[casper]

Originally Posted by dleung

Toronto consistently gets screwed by Ontario, hence the province-of-Toronto sentiment.

In BC, the province is Vancouver's best ally, moreso than any municipal government here. They didn't call El Gordo the "mega-mayor" for no reason.

I have lived in both Vancouver and Northern Ontario before moving to Saskatchewan. Moved out of Northern Ontario years ago. However the feeling of many was always that Northern Ontario was screwed by Toronto. I think that was more driven by decision making being very city vrs. rural focused. One good example was having to drive over 100 km to get a photo take for a health card because such things could only be done in person at a ministry office in one of the major cities.

Does the same view exist in the rural areas of BC? Vancouver and Victoria probably hold a substantial number of seats in the legislature.

[Spoolmak]

Originally Posted by Xerx

So, I was just browsing the web, and I stumbled upon the the Wikipedia entry for the proposed Province of Toronto(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proposa...nce_of_Toronto). This just got me wondering: would it work for Vancouver? I personally find the idea of turning Metro Vancouver into a quasi city-state like Hong Kong or Hamburg interesting. Population-wise we'd just after Manitoba.

What do you guys think? Any potential benefits or drawbacks you can think of? Just thinking about transportation, I can't help to think this would make things like implementing road pricing or a vehicle levy easier.

Population wise would be larger than manitoba, by about a million people