The Save Our Ferries Advocacy Group was at Cedars Inn in Gibsons on Tuesday night seeking input and participation from the approximately 100 local residents who showed up to express their concerns about the operation of B.C. Ferry Services. The advocacy group was formed shortly after the provincial government passed Bill 18, the Coastal Ferry Act, in April 2003. David Gray, co-founder of Save Our Ferries and engineer with the Spirit of Vancouver Island, said the new law has the potential to cause severe hardship and harm to the fabric of coastal communities.
"As a crown corporation, B.C. Ferries didn't need to be disposed of, it needed to become sustainable, accountable and more cost effective," Gray said. "It also needed to be able to exercise its mandate, without political influence or interference. All of this could have been achieved without Bill 18."
Gray said the Coastal Ferry Act condones and requires service operators to examine and contract out any service possible and includes penalties for those operators who do not attempt to contract out further to reduce costs. According to Gray, the mandate of the advocacy group is to attack the legislation alone and leave the labour issues out of its presentations. Gray called upon the people present at Tuesday's meeting to write letters to their MLAs and forward petitions to Save Our Ferries headquarters.
The petition is directed at the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia and asks that the government enter into an open, public consultation process to evaluate the wishes of the electorate regarding Bill 18 or amend or repeal Bill 18 entirely. Gray said B.C. Ferry Services has no vested interest in supporting the local shipbuilding industry and accuses the company of tendering new ship construction internationally.
"There is merit to building ships in our shipyards. We all know this," Gray said. "It is important to our communities, our tradesmen and our country's autonomy."
Powell River-Sunshine Coast MLA Harold Long said he voted in favour of the Coastal Ferry Act, adding that the company should run at arm's length from the government so there isn't a lot of political inference. Long believes that attempts at repealing Bill 18 will not be successful. "It will not happen," Long said. "It's a done deal. B.C. Ferries has signed off on it, and I look forward to better service for the people of the Sunshine Coast."
Mark Stefanson, vice-president of communications for B.C. Ferry Services, said the Save Our Ferries Advocacy group is an outgrowth of the B.C. Ferry and Marine Workers' Union. He said the development of the advocacy group is quite timely as the company and the union are currently in binding arbitration.
"It's a union lobbying campaign," Stefanson said. "It's a self-serving exercise. For them to say they are only attacking the legislation is misguided at best. It's all directly related."
Stefanson is aware that the Save Our Ferries group is lobbying to have Bill 18 repealed and said that the company's history has been plagued by government interference. "We want to focus on improving the overall level of customer service," Stefanson said. "We want to take a step forward. The union wants to go backwards."
Stefanson admits that the company is looking at contracting out opportunities in the future, saying that in doing so the company will be able to provide a better service. He also revealed that B.C. Ferry Services would soon be looking at shipyards around the world to build more vessels. "We want to find the best deal while having the best vessel built for our customers," Stefanson said. "We currently support local industry by maintaining our vessels in B.C."
Stefanson said one of the beneficial aspects of Bill 18 is that it allows B.C. Ferry Services to borrow money from capital markets.
"We can borrow the money independently ourselves, instead of from the taxpayers," Stefanson said.
