I am very depressed and concerned about the proposed new Ferry for Galena Bay on the Arrow Lakes Reservoir. This decision represents the largest financial burden or asset of the West Kootenay since the Columbia River Treaty Dams.
When the Columbia Basin Trust was formed, their stated goal was to restore the economic viability to the impacted areas. To date nothing has happened. There has been no economic return for what we sacrificed for the greater good of the rest of the province.
The Okanagan and the East Kootenay both have north-south connectors between Highway One and Highway Three. The West Kootenay does not. Highway Thirty One in the Kootenay Lake Valley and Highway Six in the Slocan Valley terminate at the Galena Bay Ferry crossing. The ferry is a deterrent to all commerce. It has a negative impact on where industry locates. This ferry crossing is reviewed as a dead-end road with long waits and no service at night.
I am a third generation resident of the West Kootenay. Our home and business were flooded behind the Duncan Dam. Are we going to continue the sacrifice by spending millions of dollars on a new ferry that will not address the real problem?
A fixed link with a causeway and a bridge would revitalize the West Kootenay economy. Reliable transportation is of the utmost importance to all industry and business that create our much needed “jobs for families.”
The government’s concern about affordability of a fixed link should be addressed with the hundreds of millions of dollars realized every year from the water storage of the Arrow and Duncan Dams. What better way to spend the money that is created in this area? The fixed link will more than pay back its cost by the rapid increase in commerce that will be generated in the West Kootenay.
The stated objective of our government to create “jobs for families” could not be better served in the West Kootenay.
In truth, I have little faith that the right decision will be made. I believe the bureaucrats have already decided on a new ferry and the West Kootenay will remain depressed and out of step with the rest of the province.
In closing, can you imagine Kelowna with a new ferry instead of a second new fixed link in less than sixty years? Their old floating bridge would sure look good at Galena Bay.
