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Time for BC Ferries’ owner to show up

Editorial

 

BC Ferries made its point loud and clear this week, sending its corporate attack dog to the Sunshine Coast to lay down the law for the Route 3 ferry advisory committee.

Mark Collins, the ferry corporation’s vice president of strategic planning and community engagement, astounded FAC members by declaring that fare equity and added sailings were taboo subjects going forward. Never mind that FAC members have carefully documented the unequal rates based on distances sailed, which translates into higher fares for Route 3 passengers.

“We’ve made the decision that we will do nothing on this,” Collins told them bluntly. And never mind that Route 3 traffic volumes have risen more than five per cent above the threshold used to cut one round-trip Sunday sailing in the off-peak season. “That process is closed, finished, done,” Collins said. “There is no expectation that the minute you go over you get something back.”

The take-home message from Collins was that if the community has anything to say about fares or sailings, don’t talk to BC Ferries about it. Talk to the owner – the B.C. government.

In that regard, we couldn’t agree more. Like oil and gas “synergy” groups in Alberta, ferry advisory committees were set up to give an appearance of community buy-in, while actually serving as a buffer between government and the people they are elected to serve. It should be the transportation minister, or a high-level designate, who comes to the Coast periodically to engage the community in a public setting.

Rather than sending in a BC Ferries employee to tell us, with stunning arrogance, that we are not allowed to talk about the most pressing transportation issues affecting our region, the provincial government has to start showing up and taking responsibility for its own ferry system.

Our FAC members – and by extension our community – were treated with absolute disdain by BC Ferries this week. We urge local governments on the Coast to call on Victoria to tell them with equal bluntness that this arrangement is not acceptable.