Tag: Transport Action

AGM Reminder! Saturday, May 15, 2021

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Don’t forget! Transport Action Atlantic’s Annual General Meeting will be happening via Zoom on Saturday, May 15, 2021. The meeting will begin at 2pm Atlantic time.

If you want to attend, you will need to register before the meeting begins. If you’re on our mailing list, you should already have received an invitation by email with a link to register. If you didn’t, please email us at atlantic@transportaction.ca.

For those of you planning to join us, here is the tentative agenda for Saturday’s virtual meeting:

TRANSPORT ACTION ATLANTIC
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Saturday, 15 May 2021 1400 hours (Atlantic)
VIA ZOOM

TENTATIVE AGENDA

  1. Call to order/welcome
  2. Regrets
  3. Adoption of agenda
  4. Minutes of previous AGM (17 October 2020) – as circulated (SEE BELOW)
  5. Business arising from minutes
  6. President’s report
  7. Vice-President’s report
  8. Treasurer’s report
  9. Auditor’s Report
  10. Appointment of auditor
  11. Membership Report
  12. Nominating committee report/election of directors
  13. John Pearce Award
  14. New business
  15. Presentations and Discussion (tentative)
     Outlook for the Ocean (Philippe Cannon, VIA Rail)
     Viewliner – an Option for VIA? (Ted Bartlett)
     Public transit for the Acadian Peninsula (Yves Bourgeois)
     NL’s “Big Reset” and Transportation (Tom Beckett)
  16. Adjournment at 1630

The minutes of the 2020 meeting can be found for your review here.

TAA mourns the passing of president emeritus John Pearce

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John Pearce, May 7, 1934 – June 6, 2019

 

Transport Action Atlantic mourns the passing of its president emeritus. John Pearce was a tireless crusader for the cause of convenient, affordable and sustainable public transportation.

At age 85, John passed away peacefully in Dartmouth on June 6, 2019. He was born in Toronto to the late Perezel and Helen (Munro) Pearce. John obtained his Masters in Math and Physics at the University of Toronto on his path to becoming a Meteorologist. His career in which he served with distinction for many years would lead him to Nova Scotia. There he met his wife of 47 years at a Sports Car Club meeting.

John joined Transport 2000 Atlantic in the mid 1970s, served for many years as its president, and remained an active volunteer and board member as the organization rebranded itself as Transport Action Atlantic. His primary focus was always passenger rail, and until only a couple of years ago he could be frequently found in the Halifax VIA station, promoting the cause and chatting with passers-by and railway employees. His influence and contributions to the cause have been recognized by an annual award that TAA named in his honour.

The United Church was also a focus of John’s life and he was a fixture in the congregation and choir of St. Matthew’s for many decades. John is survived by sister, Judith (John); wife, Karen; sons, Ian (Maria) and Lorne (Laura); grandchildren, Stella and Owen.

Visitation will be held on Monday, June 10th from 2-4pm & 6-8pm in A. L. Mattatall Funeral Home, Dartmouth. Celebration of Life will be held on Tuesday, June 11th at 11am in St. Matthew’s United Church, Halifax. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Parkinson’s Society of Canada.

TAA Treasurer Don MacLeod presents the inaugural John Pearce Award, for outstanding public transportation advocacy, to John Pearce on November 18, 2017.

Advocates have questions on National Railway Day

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Transport Action Atlantic is asking why it is taking so long for VIA Rail and the Government of Canada to deliver on an outstanding promise to improve frequency of passenger rail services in the Maritimes. Today is National Railway Day – the anniversary of the last spike ceremony that marked completion of Canada’s continuous rail link from coast to coast on November 7, 1885.

“It’s a very appropriate occasion to pose this question,” says Ted Bartlett, president of the regional public transportation advocacy group, “and not just because it’s a date that was so important in the development of Canada’s nationhood. It was three years ago this week that VIA’s CEO unveiled a plan to reintroduce regional service within Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, using the same type of rail diesel cars (RDCs) that had been discontinued in January 1990 as part of sweeping cuts mandated by the Mulroney Government. His timeline called for the routes between Moncton and Halifax and Moncton and Campbellton to be operational by late summer or early fall of 2016.

“That goal, unfortunately, was not met. Neither were several other target dates subsequently offered. We’re still waiting, and VIA management is no longer even suggesting possible start dates. Furthermore, we understand that there will be no additional frequency or capacity offered during the holiday travel season this year, something that had become standard practice in recent years to augment the very limited schedule normally offered in this region.” Continue reading “Advocates have questions on National Railway Day” →