For every action be -- it repealing the HST or building rapid transit -- there is a reaction.

That's why B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell wants the public to answer the question of how TransLink should come up with additional funds to pay for projects like the Evergreen Line.

"You have to think about what the impacts of these decisions are on people," he told The NOW in an interview Thursday after his Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce speech. "We're open to have the public come forward and say, 'We'd like to pay this way.'"

Vehicle levies, property taxes, a regional development cost charge, user pay in terms of tolls and fees: all funding options are up for consideration, and Campbell refused to say whether he prefers some options over others. The bottom line is, he explained, that TransLink has to come up with the Evergreen Line funding somehow.

"You can't pretend that someone doesn't pay for it," he said. "People love taxes that they don't have to pay, they just don't like the taxes they have to pay. I think we have to be smart about this ... I'm looking forward to the mayors' conversations and I'm looking forward to the public conversations because the public is really the people who are going to end up funding these services."

Campbell acknowledged that the consultation period may not yield a clear consensus, leaving decision-makers to step in.

"There's no simple answer, otherwise they would have done it years ago," he said. "I think there's not going to be unanimity."

Held at the Vancouver Golf Club with a turnout of more than 180 people, the chamber luncheon served as an opportunity for Campbell to not only wax poetic on the success of the Olympics, but deflate any perceived hubris over the HST.

"Quite frankly, we didn't do a very good job of that," he said of communicating the move to harmonize federal and provincial sales taxes. "We didn't do a bad job because it was a bad decision; I still believe it's a good decision ... People want to be included. They want to be part of the decision."

Campbell said B.C. residents will get their say on Sept. 24, 2011, when they vote in the HST

referendum. But he stressed to the crowd that there will be a reaction to whichever action the vote directs government to do.

"You get to be finance minister for a day. Do you want to maintain what you've got, or go back to where we were?" he asked.

The chamber event also became the setting for the unveiling of a livable cities memorandum of understanding (MOU) that had been signed between the province and the TransLink mayors' council to work on a long-term strategy for sustainable transportation in Metro Vancouver. Regional players in the transportation game heralded the MOU as a "significant step."

"Transportation is the lifeblood of a healthy economy," said Peter Fassbender, the Langley City representative who chairs the TransLink mayors' council. "[What] the issue really comes down to is that we have to find ways to find the solution. That's great to say that, but then you do have to have a system that can pay for these things. There's only one taxpayer."

While no concrete deadline was mentioned, Fassbender said the mayors' council would be voting on a supplement this fall. He told the chamber crowd that he could not predict how that vote will go, but does know the region must work together. "We have got to stop doing one-off solutions, and we have to do a long-term framework," he said.

Transportation Minister Shirley Bond would not offer an opinion on preferred individual taxes or funding regimes.

"This is about saying to British Columbians and those in Metro Vancouver in particular, 'You want more transit, you want more opportunities in terms of transportation. How are we going to pay for it?'" she said. "At the end of the day, there's more demand than there are dollars ... This is going to be about prioritization. We can't do everything. We can't do it all at once."

The Ministry of Transportation released a request for qualifications (RFQ) in August to attract competitive bids from a contractor that will eventually be awarded the job of building the line.

Campbell told lunch attendees that seven bids came in from the RFQ, and the province will likely move forward with three this fall.

"It's good to see that they're working together for the common goal to get the Evergreen Line, and to provide a solution that works for all," Stephanie Booth, the chamber chair, said Thursday afternoon.

Regardless of funding options or station locations, she stressed that the chamber just wants the Evergreen Line built sooner rather than later.

"The traffic congestion going through Port Moody to get to destinations like Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and beyond is unbearable," Booth said.

"We need [Evergreen] and we need it now to ease the congestion, and it's growing congestion, too."

sblais@thenownews.com