We are writing to bring to your attention the serious financial difficulty of TransLink funding for public transit due to Covid 19. Since the novel coronavirus pandemic in mid-March, TransLink ridership in Metro Vancouver has gone down 80%, resulting in a $2.5 million revenue shortfall per day or a staggering $75 million revenue shortfall per month. Not only that, special measures have been in place in order to implement physical distancing rules as directed by public health officers: rear-door boarding, limited seating capacity and increases in cleaning and sanitizing requirements. The scheduled fare increase on July 1 has been suspended, due to the economic crisis caused by the pandemic.
TransLink plays a vital role in ensuring the 75,000 essential workers in our region, such as nurses, hospital workers, and grocery workers, get to work by public transit every day during Covid19. Without an immediate injection of funding from the federal government, TransLink may face insolvency as early as June. The revenue shortfall will also impact the HandyDART accessible transportation service.
Canadian activists detained by Israel last month while taking part in an aid flotilla trying to reach Gaza say Canada isn’t doing enough to call out treatment by Israeli officials that Ottawa has called appalling.
While Israel has rejected claims of abuse, flotilla participant Ehab Lotayef said Wednesday Israeli officials beat him on the chest and ribs, put him in uncomfortable positions for long periods and slashed his hand when he tried to help a fellow detainee.
“We felt that we were let down by Canada before anybody else, to be honest, because the Canadian government knew all that was happening,” Lotayef told a news conference on Parliament Hill.
“When we needed them was when we were being tortured — and the whole world knew that that was happening.”
Activist flotillas have tried repeatedly to reach the Gaza Strip to draw attention to tight restrictions on humanitarian supplies for Palestinians. Israel has intercepted these boats, often in international waters.
Lotayef was one of 12 Canadians among 420 flotilla activists detained by Israeli authorities last month. Their detention gained international notoriety when Israel’s Public Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir posted a video of himself taunting the detained activists.
