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A five-year $50-billion public infrastructure spending initiative would generate a return on investment to Canadians over the long term as high as $3.83 per dollar spent, trigger significant private sector investment and stimulate wage increases, according to a new study by an independent economic modelling firm.

There's a popular belief that parents chauffeur their young children everywhere. And certainly parents have many reasons for preferring cars over other modes of transportation: Children get easily tired. Parents need to pack things like food, diapers, etc. Parents want to keep their children comfortable and safe. Parents have busy and complicated schedules and taking the car can be quick and convenient. However, research I published last week provided some surprising findings. In 2011-2012, Sylvia Parusel and I conducted interviews with 52 parents of young children (12 or younger) in four diverse areas of Vancouver -- Downtown, Dunbar-Southlands, Sunset and Grandview-Woodland. We wanted to know how parents use the car in their daily lives.

I got my plebiscite ballot on Friday and of course voted yes. Whatever you think of TransLink management, its governance, the rough and largely undefined edges of the mayor's plan, and the politically expedient but otherwise not particularly appropriate sales tax source of revenues, the simple fact remains that I and most residents of Greater Vancouver will be better off with significant new investments in transit and other public transportation infrastructure than without it. And a plebiscite victory should help that happen.

In the upcoming transit and transportation referendum, we think the benefits of a YES outcome outweigh the negatives for the following reasons: