Re: Fantasies won’t keep ferries afloat (B.C. Views, Oct. 17)
Tom Fletcher calls ferry subsidies “a welfare program for the reclusive and the rich.” Actually, it is high ferry fares that are turning our islands into summer homes for rich Albertans and Americans.
Fifteen years ago, I lived on one of the small islands. The people I knew there were not reclusive and certainly weren’t rich. Like me, they were drawn by the community’s warmth, and strong sense of participation and responsibility. Residents enjoyed living closer to nature, in a place where community change moved at a digestible pace. Especially during the off-season, you knew your children were safe without having to shepherd them everywhere by car.
Most families would have enjoyed a materially better standard of living in a city, but placed more value on living in peaceful surroundings in a small, active community.
The islands used to be an affordable and enjoyable destination for those who lived nearby. Another group that has lost out, though Fletcher never mentions them, are the many Vancouver Islanders and mainlanders who used to enjoy day or weekend trips to the nearby small islands.
Remember those days? Now, a day trip from Victoria to Salt Spring can cost $75 for a family of four. Visiting Hornby Island could cost up to $116 (depending on children’s ages).
The ferry service is indeed a part of the highway system. Or does Fletcher know of any other viable way to transport children to high schools, sick people to hospitals, to bring in police, to transport food and other necessities?
It is Tom Fletcher’s fantasy that it’s a “financially illiterate cliché.”
It is sad indeed that B.C.’s policies have contributed to re-creating the islands as vacation havens for the wealthy from elsewhere.
Grace Wyatt
Victoria
