BC Ferries Fiasco

BC Ferries, (Crown Corp.) was created in 1960 by legendary Premier WAC Bennett (Social Credit Government), was first class and became known as the ‘Pride of BC’.

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a) In 2003, the Liberals quasi-privatized BC Ferries as a stand-alone Corporation (Christy Clark was Deputy Premier 2001-2005), which was another waste of millions that solved nothing and made things worse. It is now called ‘BC Ferries Services Inc.’ and is a de-facto Crown Corporation of government with it’s single voting share held by, ‘BC Ferry Authority’, still operated by the Gov’t. under the Ministry of Transportation. So why all the corporate shell game manipulation? b) In 2000, BC Ferries had a book value of $1/2 billion. After some dubious book-keeping trickery, BC Ferries now has a massive $1.3 billion growing debt. and owes the gov’t $6 million in (8% interest) annually for the privilege of being used as an ATM. The Liberals have a bad habit of picking our pockets through Crown Corp’s. as they extracted $490 million from BC Ferries...(Since 2010 they have yanked $927 million from ICBC). These translate to hidden taxes by way of increased subsidies/fares and insurance premiums. Addicted to overspending, robbing Peter to pay Paul. c) Exorbitant executive salary increases, (CEO compensation of $ 1.137 million), management positions doubled and Bonus Plans were awarded (for a monopoly). The Board of Directors, (2010/11 Ann. Rep. p85/86) paid themselves approx. $421,635 attending meetings for their ruinous decision making. Wild-west insider crony mismanagement, Liberals don’t hear or see anything until we start screaming. d) The annual taxpayer subsidy to BC Ferries is 179.3 + Feds contribution = $191 million budgeted. (Mary Polak) In spite of an extra $25 million subsidy injection from us taxpayers in 2012, they still lost $16.5 million. e) Ferry fares have skyrocketed up on major routes 47%+ and on minor routes 80%++, combined could go up another 12% by 2015, further exasperating dropping ridership. Fares represent 62% of the budget. (Mary Polak) f) Ferry dependent communities are facing a triple-whammy with ~reduced service, ~increased cost and ~tourism business ruined. g) The latest rotating Transportation Minister, Mary Polak wasted $700,000 borrowed-debt-taxdollars on a ‘Public Consultation Program’. Another crony-contract Study- (Kirk & Co. Consultants donated $12,000 to the Lib. Party), relying on the public to tell them what’s wrong and how to cut $26 million. The inadequate study had a narrow scope and didn’t look at future long term needs, so now we need a better study. Aging vessels/replacement, deteriorating finances etc. Bottom line - the BC Liberals have destroyed the once 1st class ‘Pride of BC’ Ferries with their stubborn trial and error privatization experiments and incompetent mismanagement. Both the Liberals and NDP are avoiding this crucial transportation issue in their campaigns. I’m a senior on a pension and will be voting for the BC Conservatives, which can only be a big improvement. Roland Seguin Langley, BC

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