Dear editor,
Premier Christy Clark is quoted in a recent wide-ranging interview with The Province newspaper regarding free ferry trips for current and retired employees.
She said, “Before I became premier the government decided BC Ferries would run independently. So they have the right to make that decision. All I can say is that if BC Ferries was inside government that would change.”
Well, guess what, Madame Premier?
You could recall the BC legislature. (Does it even sit anymore?) Then you could pass legislation to rescind the Coastal Ferries Act, which has been a disaster in the decade it has been in place.
Finally, you could take back control of BC Ferries as the public transportation system it should be, and then put the smaller Gulf Island ferries back under Ministry of Highways, where they were in the 1970s and early 1980s.
Attempting to run these ferries under a quasi private-for-profit system to coastal communities and islands, populated for more than 150 years, has caused only reduced ridership and ever-increasing exorbitant fares.
By allowing BC Ferries to reduce sailings and continue to increase rates, you will be cause families to relocate and businesses to close. Hardly a Families First agenda.
My taxes pay for Vancouver’s highways and bridges. Why are our ferries poorly subsidized with the passengers expected to financially float the boats?
Your hypocrisy is astonishing. I would also request that a full independent audit of BC Ferries be done if and when you take the corporation back inside government.
Sara French,
Denman Island
