To the Editor,
Re: Residents asked for input into ferry proposal, Oct. 24.
If David Marshall is so confident the venture will be successful in the Harbour City, why is he waiting on final investment and support from the city to make the business work? Those are very contradictory statements.
Concessions being sought from the city indicate the venture is not going to succeed. Seeking a partnership deal with the city to allow the new ferry service a chance to incubate over the next five years simply means the taxpayers will be on the hook again for a deal that will benefit no one except the consortium behind the project. This is not a partnership, it’s a one-sided attempt to milk the taxpayer.
Annual income to the city is suggested at a $700,000 level after the initial five years (no guarantees, of course), but history has already shown the venture won’t make it to five years.
When will the city get it? Governments, at all levels, exist to provide essential services to taxpayers, nothing more. Stay out of the way of business. If this venture, or any other, is viable, business will run with it, alone. If business isn’t running with it, it is not viable. Subsidizing a passenger ferry service for any length of time is not an essential service.
L.R. DanielsNanaimo
