The B.C. government's bill to make changes to B.C. Ferries and its governing bodies is "useful" but overall is "incomplete."
That is the Ferry Advisory Committee's (FAC) assessment of Bill 20, which was introduced in the legislature April 29.
The bill comes in response to a series of recommendations made by B.C. comptroller-general Cheryl Wenezenki-Yolland in an audit of the ferry corporation last November.
"We are all in favour of it, but what we are missing is the protection of the consumer," said Jakob Knaus, Southern Sunshine Coast FAC representative. "The comptroller-general made the recommendation, but the bill does not address that recommendation."
Knaus said keeping an eye on fairness for ferry users would require changes to the mandate of the B.C. Ferries commissioner, but there seems to be no indication that will happen.
"That is not in his mandate at all. All he has to see is that B.C. Ferries is financially sound," Knaus said.
Knaus said without someone keeping an eye on the ferry users' interests, changes in service and fares could do undue harm to the communities that depend on ferry service.
But Knaus and FAC members from across the province are supporting the bill because it contains action on several other of Wenezenki-Yolland's recommendations, including splitting up the B.C. Ferries board, which runs the company, and the B.C. Ferries Authority, which is the sole shareholder and represents the government. Currently the board and the authority are made up of the same people.
"The authorities are really the representative of the people of British Columbia, and they should really check on B.C. Ferries. Obviously those directors have a conflict of interest, because the interest of the residents is not necessarily the interest of B.C. Ferries," Knaus said.
Bill 20 also opens up B.C. Ferries and its governing bodies to freedom of information requests, which stems from a Wenezenki-Yolland recommendation and comment that B.C. Ferries lacks transparency.
In the future, executives will also be paid at comparable rates to other Crown corporations, though there will be no changes to the way the current executives are paid.
B.C. Ferries declined to comment on the bill.
