TransLink Did Not Bark?

In the Sherlock Holmes story Silver Blaze, by Sir Author Conan Doyle, Holmes was able to deduce that the killer of Colonel Ross's racehorse was the owner of the stable dog. As the fictional Holmes chronicler Dr. John Watson explains:

Colonel Ross still wore an expression which showed the poor opinion which he had formed of my companion's ability, but I saw by the inspector's face that his attention had been keenly aroused

"You consider that to be important?" he asked.

"Exceedingly so."

"Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?"

"To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time."

"The dog did nothing in the night-time."

"That was the curious incident," remarked Sherlock Holmes.

The only person at whom the stable dog would not bark warnings was the dog's owner. Hence, the dog's silence indicated that the only one who could have entered the stable and lamed the horse, was the dog's owner.

Since then, the metaphor of the "dog that didn't bark" characterizes the import of any conspicuous silence.

TransLink has been conspicuously silent with the Rail for the Valley Leewood Projects Fraser Valley Rail report and one wonders why?

For the first time in TransLink's short history a competitive regional transportation plan has been presented by a credible transportation expert, with emphasis on a variant of modern light rail – TramTrain, yet TransLink has remained silent.

Could it be that TransLink's highly paid bureaucrats think that the RftV/Leewood Report is a superior document and that bringing any attention to it will show how inept and dated their own 'house' product is? Are TransLink's transit planners so embarrassed by their inferior product that any mention of the competing transit plan may instill the notion that the taxpayer has paid ten years worth of taxes into TransLink for nothing?

Think about it; TransLink is demanding new taxes to fund new transit projects (read new taxes to fund the bureaucracy to plan and install those transit projects), yet RftV has provided, at no cost to the taxpayer, released a credible and affordable transit plan providing much more 'rail' route mileage than TransLink's product, at a far cheaper cost. A smart politician may start to ask questions such as; "Why do we need TransLink's expensive planning staff at all?"

TransLink's silence is telling, they are scared of the RftV/Leewood report.