Students to voice thoughts and concerns regarding transit
Trinity-Spadina MP Olivia Chow will be at York’s Keele campus on January 31 to discuss her plan to end gridlock in Toronto and address students’ questions and concerns regarding transportation.
Chow, the official transportation critic for the New Democratic Party, will be speaking to students and faculty about her campaign for a national transit strategy, a plan to eliminate congestion and long commutes that millions of Canadians endure everyday.
Jon Sufrin, Canadian studies program coordinator at York and a key organizer of the event, says getting on and off campus is a nightmare for most students.
“We chose Ms. Chow [to speak] because we think that she connects with a lot of important issues facing Canada today,” says Sufrin. “Not only transit funding itself, but how to get all the different levels of government to cooperate with each other to make the best overall situation for our society.”
Sufrin says he is hoping to raise awareness of Canada’s transportation system in an attempt to encourage students to become more involved in a matter that
directly affects them on a daily basis.
“I want to get a lot of students out and actually involved in politics, in caring about their society and engaging in making it better,” he says.
Chow’s presentation will focus on potential options for students who depend on public transit, and will allow them to suggest ways to improve the future of Canada’s transportation, whichChow says she will take into consideration.
Sufrin says this event is a great opportunity for students to express their thoughts on their everyday commutes to and from campus.
“Students often complain they don’t get their voices heard, but we have Ms. Chow, the official transportation and infrastructure critic, coming to listen specifically to what [students] have to say about transit.”
Chow will allocate 40 minutes to speaking to the audience about their personal transportation experiences, and any concerns students have regarding future transit changes, discussed during the presentation, could eventually be incorporated into her national transit strategy.
Jenn Goldasic, Contributor
