The massive cuts to BC Ferries routes, to take effect in April, would likely be a little bit easier to swallow if the BC Ferries board had done the right thing and cut the exorbitant wages and bonuses given to senior management.
As it is, the board instituted a two-year wage freeze and rolled the bonuses into the regular salaries paid to executives. A small portion will be held back, to be earned if performance targets are met.
This is such an obvious shell game that even the most naive observer can see through it. These top people will continue to get the same high salaries they get today.
BC Ferries CEO Mike Corrigan makes $563,000. His counterpart on the similar-sized Washington state ferry system makes $166,000.
BC Ferries is going through a massive exercise to save about $19 million. There is no question there is a need to reduce some services on lightly-travelled routes. And despite the whining by some people, asking seniors aged 65 and over to pay 50 per cent of the passenger fare Mondays through Thursdays is not a major imposition. Most seniors who live in coastal communities have enough disposable income to make the occasional ferry trip, and they will still be getting a substantial discount over every other traveller.
But had the BC Ferries board really grasped the nettle and made some substantial cuts to the wages of its top managers, a significant amount of money would be saved (it would amount to millions) without a single sailing being cut.
The real challenge that the provincial government faces is rooting out the members of the boards who run its Crown corporations, and in the case of BC Ferries, a private corporation owned 100 per cent by the province.
It needs board members ready to challenge the CEOs and top managers they are supposed to be keeping watch on. It needs board members who do not blindly accept the status quo, and will look out for taxpayers and consumers. Then the public will be much better served.
