Editor:
We have a quasi-independent company in BC Ferries handling transportation to and from the coast. They have a very old fleet of vessels, and not enough capacity. They asked for five ferries and the provincial government made a crazy decision to only approve four boats, thus guaranteeing traveller frustration for decades to come. BC Ferries then made a business decision, minimizing taxpayer cost to build the four ferries in the best shipyard available –– in China.
Hundreds of other boats have been built by this shipyard for Canadian companies, including Marine Atlantic, controlled by the federal government.
This political interference, and bystander grandstanding in the chosen supplier drives me crazy. That’s what led to the Fast Ferry fiasco in the 1990s. Let the experts do their job, and let everyone else butt out.
Tony Woodruff, Sechelt
