‘Yes’ side could win the transportation referendum, despite strong initial opposition: expert
Posted December 12, 2014 10:35 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
METRO VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Metro Vancouver mayors have an uphill battle convincing people to agree with increasing the PST to pay for transit improvements, if early reaction to the referendum question is any indication.
Marketing expert Lindsay Meredith with SFU says the opposition may sound strong right now, but that’s not surprising.
“Is the negative reaction strong enough to mobilize a big ‘no’ vote? I don’t think so,” he tells us.
He says the apathy over just a 0.5 per cent PST increase in the region may be enough to keep the “no” voters at home, so the “yes” side needs to mobilize as many people as possible, using as many communications channels as possible to win the day.
Meredith also thinks the “yes” campaign should concentrate on winning over people in Surrey, where there are lots of voters, but few friends of TransLink.
“That’s where a large bulk of those available votes would lie. If those folks saw a big enough payoff, you might be able to garner some serious support from that direction,” he explains.
He thinks TransLink and its supporters need to generate strong grassroots support and use every available avenue, including social media, to get their message out.
The mail-in balloting starts this spring.
