Template for PAC’s
Feel free to use the following template letter as is, add your own thoughts to the letter or create your own. Send it to the Minister of Education Margaret McDiarmid (margaret.macdiarmid.mla@leg.bc.ca) Minister of Transportation Shirley Bond (shirley.bond.mla@leg.bc.ca) and Minister of the Environment Barry Penner (barry.penner.mla@leg.bc.) Addresses for other MLA’s and Ministries follow the cut and paste letter below.
Dear Minister:
(Please start with a short statement of who you are, and a brief description of your school and neighbourhood. EG. This letter is from the Parent Advisory Committee of King George High School. Our school is located in the West Side of Vancouver, in the neighbourhood commonly known as the West End, and has about xxx students.)
From here on you can cut and paste, or compose a letter entirely of your own.
We are concerned that the high cost of transit affects our children’s education in a negative way, by making class field trips to the rich resources of our community a difficult and expensive undertaking. We think this could be solved through a low cost group transit pass (TripEd) for youth (K-12) on field trips and urge you to convince our government to implement such a pass.
High transit costs result in fewer field trips to museums, festivals, libraries, community recreational facilities, musical and dramatic performances, parks, and science centers. Many of these places encourage class visits through subsidies and group rates (some are even free), but the very significant cost of taking a class out on the bus—at least $100.00 return—puts it out of reach. Removing this barrier would ensure equal access to these educationally enriching community resources, and that transit fares would cause no child to be left behind.
The Triped pass has many environmental advantages including reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions –1 bus replaces many car trips—and because these trips would be scheduled in off-peak times on buses already running, they would not only optimize our transit resources but have virtually no carbon footprint to boot!
There are substantial community benefits as well. Our children are introduced to transit as a viable and preferred mode of transportation to the region’s many cultural and educational resources. This will influence their future transportation choices: think “Raise a Rider”. And the amenities themselves benefit from increased user volume and patronage.
For these environmental, educational and economic reasons, we urge you to support the low cost transit pass for school classes K-12 in the Metro Vancouver Region.
Sincerely,
Who you can send it to:
Government
Minister of Education Margaret MacDiarmid margaret.macdiarmid.mla@leg.bc.ca
Minister of Transport Shirley Bond shirley.bond.mla@leg.bc.ca
Minister of Environment Barry Penner barry.penner.mla@leg.bc.ca
Minister for Children and Family Mary Polak mary.polak.mla@leg.bc.ca
Minister for Climate Action John Yap john.yap.mla@leg.bc.ca
Minister for Healthy Living Ida Chong ida,chong.mla@leg.bc.ca
Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts Kevin Krueger kevin.krueger.mle@leg.bc.ca
Minister of Finance Colin Hansen colin.hansen@mla.leg.bc.ca
Premier Gordon Campbell gordon.campbell.mla@leg.bc.ca
NDP Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet:
Leader of the Official Opposition: Carole James – carole.james.mla@leg.bc.ca
Children and Family Development and Child Care critic: Maurine Karagianis - maurine.karagianis.mla@leg.bc.ca
Education, Early Learning and Literacy critic: Robin Austin – robin.austin.mla@leg.bc.ca
Environment critic: Rob Fleming – rob.fleming.mla@leg.bc.ca
Transportation and Infrastructure critic: Harry Bains – harry.bains.mla@leg.bc.c
Finance and Public Accounts critic: Bruce Ralston bruce.ralston.mla@leg.bc.ca
Healthy Living and Sport critic: Jagrup Brar jagrup.brar.mla@leg.bc.ca
Multiculturalism critic: Harry Lali harry.lali.mla@leg.bc.ca
Tourism, Culture, Arts critic: Spencer Herbert spencer.herbert.mla@leg.bc.ca
Members of the Legislature (MLA’s) (lower Mainland only)
Kathy Corrigan Burnaby-Deer Lake kathy.corrigan.mla@leg.bc.ca
Raj Chouhan Burnaby-Edmonds raj.chouhan.mla@leg.bc.ca
Harry Bloy Burnaby-Lougheed harry.bloy.mla@leg.bc.ca
Richard Lee Burnaby North richard.lee.mla@leg.bc.ca
Douglas Home Coquitlam-Burke Mtn douglas.home.mla@leg.bc.ca
Diane Thorne Coquitlam-Maillardville diane.thorne.mla@leg.bc.ca
Guy Gentner Delta North guy.gentner.mla@leg.bc.ca
Vicki Huntington Delta South vicki.huntington.mla@leg.bc.ca
Mary Polak Langley mary.polak.mla@leg.bc.ca
Marc Dalton Maple Ridge-Mission marc.dalton.mla@leg.bc.ca
Michael Sather Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows michael.sather.mla@leg.bc.ca
Mike Farnworth Port Coquitlam mike.farnworth.mla@leg.bc.ca
Iain Black Port Moody-Coquitlam Iain.black.mla@leg.bc.ca
Rob Howard Richmond Centre rob.howard.mla@leg.bc.ca
Linda Reid Richmond East linda.reid.mla@leg.bc.ca
John Yap Richmond-Steveston john.yap.mla@leg.bc.ca
Kevin Falcon Surrey-Cloverdale kevin.falcon.mla@leg.bc.ca
Jagrup Brar Surrey-Fleetwood jagrup.brar.mla@leg.bc.ca
Sue Hammell Surrey- Green Timbers sue.hammell.mla@leg.bc.ca
Harry Bains Surrey Newton harry.bains.mla@leg.bc.ca
Stephanie Cadieux Surrey Panorama stephanie.cadieux.mla@leg.bc.ca
Dave Hayer Surrey Tynehead dave.hayer.mla@leg.bc.ca
Bruce Ralston Surrey Whalley bruce.ralston.mla@leg.bc.ca
Gordon Hogg Surrey-White Rock gordon.hogg.mla@leg.bc.ca
Margaret MacDiarmid Vancouver Fairview margaret macdiarmid.mla@leg.bc.ca
Mary McNeil Vancouver False Creek mary.mcneil.mla@leg.bc.ca
Shane Simpson Vancouver Hastings shane.simpson.mla@leg.bc.ca
Mable Elmore Vancouver Kensington mable.elmore.mla@leg.bc.ca
Adrian Dix Vancouver Kingsway adrian.dix.mla@leg.bc.ca
Moira Stilwell Vancouver Langara moira.stilwell.mla@leg.bc.ca
Jenny Kwan Vancouver-Mt. Pleasant jenny.kwan.mla@leg.bc.ca
Gordon Campbell Vancouver Point Grey gordon.campbell.mla@leg.bc.ca
Colin Hansen Vancouver-Quilchena colin.hansen.mla@leg.bc.ca
Spencer Herbert Vancouver West End spencer.herbert.mla@leg.bc.ca
Ralph Sultan West Vancouver-Capilano ralph.sultan.mla@leg.bc.ca
Joan McIntyre West Vancouver-Sea to Sky joan.mcintyre.mla@leg.bc.ca