You're listening to the Canterbury Mornings podcast with John McDonald from News Talk ZB.

You're listening to the Canterbury Mornings podcast with John McDonald from News Talk ZB.

I hope, I really hope that environment Canterbury isn't bothering itself listening to Weymacreedy MP Matt Doocey because he's not impressed that the Regional Council is going to spend money doing a business case for a rail passenger service between rangy Yorda, christ Church and Rolliston. Matt Doocy is what he's saying today. He says it's nothing more than a pie in the sky idea, and given we're in the cost of living crisis, he says he CAN should stick to its knitting and should focus on getting costs down and reducing rates. As what he's saying, as far as I'm concerned, what Matt Doocey should be doing Instead of criticizing he Can, he should be praising it for showing initiative. He should be praising he CAN for showing that it's prepared to do the kind of big sky, big picture thinking that local government hasn't been doing and which we've been saying it should be doing. And I don't think Deuce is reading the room here, and I suspect that there will be a lot of excitement about e Can pushing this commuter rail idea, and all of its councilors are behind it. The vote to work with Kiwi Rail on a business case yesterday was unanimous. There's more to it. What's more, e Can has put some money aside for a possible rail project. Plus, it's not limiting its thinking just to the Greater christ Rigeria. It's not just talking rail passenger services to Rangiora, christ Church and Rollison. It's also saying it could be extended to places like Amberley, Ashburton, Temuru even further south Stephen and the Cargill Are you listening. They're saying that it could even be extended further into a targo in Southland. And I'm loving the idea, but I'm particularly loving the fact that he Can is prepared to put some skin in the game, to spend some money and find out once and for all whether this thing could be a goer. I'm not the only person excited about it. I see an online poll this morning as asking people if they would catch a train if it ran between the city and Rolliston and rungy Order instead of driving. When I last looked about ninety one percent said yes there would. So he can is onto something here, because if if there's a common complaint about how the earthquake rebuild played out, it would be the fact that despite all the talk that christ Church particularly was going to be the most modern city in the country, despite all that talk, it's not because we've just stuck to the same old, same old when it comes to things like transport and local government has to carry some of the blame for that, but it seems now I Can wants to make good on that. And what this comes down to for me is this it comes down to what we expect of local governments, like our regional council. What we expect them to do. Do we just expect them to stick to the knitting, do the basic boring stuff, or do we expect our councils to be big picture thinkers. If you like me and you want to see councils doing the big picture stuff, then you will agree that we've lost the ability to think big. We've encouraged counsels not to think big, and mark my words, there'll be no shortage of people running in the local body elections later this year banging on about sticking to the basics. You know, vote for me and I'll make sure we stick to the rubbish collection and fixing the roads, that's all. But that is so dull and boring and safe, and it says nothing about the future, whereas ECAN is showing that it is thinking about the future. And this is exactly the kind of thing I want to see from not just ECAN but all our councils. Tell that to why make it eary? MP Matt Doocy, though he seems to be getting I'm all fixated on one particular railway station, saying that previous reports have indicated commuter rail on the main track line is unworkable because the Addington station isn't close to where the majority of people work and there's some sort of lack of a passing lane to accommodate freight Matt Doucy. He is saying today, quote, rather than coming up with pie in the sky motions, e CAN should focus on reducing rates which have rapidly increased, putting more pressure on rate pays in a cost of living crisis. End of quote. Boring, Matt boring. Compare that to the likes of ECN councilor Joe Davies, who's saying we can't wait twenty or thirty years. We need a solution in the next five to ten years. Council of Davies says, quote, there's a corridor already in place, so there would be significantly lower set up costs. And this is an opportunity to linkering the order in Ralston and Rolston to the city end of quote. So he sees opportunity. Matt Doocey sees obstacles, e can sees opportunity and it's doing something about it. And that is exactly the approach I want to see a lot more of from our local councils. Matt Doocy says, it's pie and the sky and in the cost of living crisis, he can should focus on the then and get the rates down. Say it's not pie and the sky. I say it's the kind of big sky, big picture thinking that all councils should be doing.

I hope, I really hope that environment Canterbury isn't bothering itself listening to Weymacreedy MP Matt Doocey because he's not impressed that the Regional Council is going to spend money doing a business case for a rail passenger service between rangy Yorda, christ Church and Rolliston. Matt Doocy is what he's saying today. He says it's nothing more than a pie in the sky idea, and given we're in the cost of living crisis, he says he CAN should stick to its knitting and should focus on getting costs down and reducing rates. As what he's saying, as far as I'm concerned, what Matt Doocey should be doing Instead of criticizing he Can, he should be praising it for showing initiative. He should be praising he CAN for showing that it's prepared to do the kind of big sky, big picture thinking that local government hasn't been doing and which we've been saying it should be doing. And I don't think Deuce is reading the room here, and I suspect that there will be a lot of excitement about e Can pushing this commuter rail idea, and all of its councilors are behind it. The vote to work with Kiwi Rail on a business case yesterday was unanimous. There's more to it. What's more, e Can has put some money aside for a possible rail project. Plus, it's not limiting its thinking just to the Greater christ Rigeria. It's not just talking rail passenger services to Rangiora, christ Church and Rollison. It's also saying it could be extended to places like Amberley, Ashburton, Temuru even further south Stephen and the Cargill Are you listening. They're saying that it could even be extended further into a targo in Southland. And I'm loving the idea, but I'm particularly loving the fact that he Can is prepared to put some skin in the game, to spend some money and find out once and for all whether this thing could be a goer. I'm not the only person excited about it. I see an online poll this morning as asking people if they would catch a train if it ran between the city and Rolliston and rungy Order instead of driving. When I last looked about ninety one percent said yes there would. So he can is onto something here, because if if there's a common complaint about how the earthquake rebuild played out, it would be the fact that despite all the talk that christ Church particularly was going to be the most modern city in the country, despite all that talk, it's not because we've just stuck to the same old, same old when it comes to things like transport and local government has to carry some of the blame for that, but it seems now I Can wants to make good on that. And what this comes down to for me is this it comes down to what we expect of local governments, like our regional council. What we expect them to do. Do we just expect them to stick to the knitting, do the basic boring stuff, or do we expect our councils to be big picture thinkers. If you like me and you want to see councils doing the big picture stuff, then you will agree that we've lost the ability to think big. We've encouraged counsels not to think big, and mark my words, there'll be no shortage of people running in the local body elections later this year banging on about sticking to the basics. You know, vote for me and I'll make sure we stick to the rubbish collection and fixing the roads, that's all. But that is so dull and boring and safe, and it says nothing about the future, whereas ECAN is showing that it is thinking about the future. And this is exactly the kind of thing I want to see from not just ECAN but all our councils. Tell that to why make it eary? MP Matt Doocy, though he seems to be getting I'm all fixated on one particular railway station, saying that previous reports have indicated commuter rail on the main track line is unworkable because the Addington station isn't close to where the majority of people work and there's some sort of lack of a passing lane to accommodate freight Matt Doucy. He is saying today, quote, rather than coming up with pie in the sky motions, e CAN should focus on reducing rates which have rapidly increased, putting more pressure on rate pays in a cost of living crisis. End of quote. Boring, Matt boring. Compare that to the likes of ECN councilor Joe Davies, who's saying we can't wait twenty or thirty years. We need a solution in the next five to ten years. Council of Davies says, quote, there's a corridor already in place, so there would be significantly lower set up costs. And this is an opportunity to linkering the order in Ralston and Rolston to the city end of quote. So he sees opportunity. Matt Doocey sees obstacles, e can sees opportunity and it's doing something about it. And that is exactly the approach I want to see a lot more of from our local councils. Matt Doocy says, it's pie and the sky and in the cost of living crisis, he can should focus on the then and get the rates down. Say it's not pie and the sky. I say it's the kind of big sky, big picture thinking that all councils should be doing.

For more from Category Mornings with John McDonald. Listen live to news Talks It'd be christ Church from nine am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.

For more from Category Mornings with John McDonald. Listen live to news Talks It'd be christ Church from nine am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.