To the Editor:
A privatized ferry system might be great news for the B.C. Liberal government, but certainly not for British Columbia travellers.
When the Liberals “restructured” B.C. Ferries in 2002, they trumpetted the new-look corporation would improve service.
What the Liberals didn’t trumpet was a provision in the Coastal Ferries Act which requires B.C. Ferries to look for alternate service providers for its routes. Section 69 (1) of the Act mandated B.C. Ferries to find someone to compete with them.
A cynic might suggest that’s why there have been so many service problems lately or why fares — despite the Liberal promise that they would be “stable” — just keep going up; perhaps the company is being mismanaged to help fill that mandate for a competitor.
Let’s keep this in context. To British Columbians who live along the coast and on the islands, the ferry service is not simply a frill. It is our marine highway system; it’s how we get from point A to point B.
We’ve already seen British Columbians react quite strongly against the proposed privatization of the Coquihalla. Each of the ferry routes is as important to the people who live along the coast as the Coquihalla is to the residents of the southern Interior.
A reliable, safe, affordable ferry system is just as crucial to the long-term health of the coastal and island regions as a reliable, safe, accessible highway system is to the rest of British Columbia. We need less privatization of the ferry system, not more.