Ferry committee questions process

BC Ferries’ community consultation process is broken, according to members of the Northern Sunshine Coast Ferry Advisory Committee (FAC).

Committee members and BC Ferries officials met on Friday, November 1. Bill Cripps, FAC chair, provided six examples of why the committee believes the process is not working: no consultation about the replacement vessel for the Queen of Burnaby; no advanced notice on the vessel shuffle which had the Queen of Burnaby going in for refit, the Island Sky replacing it on the Powell River-Comox route and the Queen of Chilliwack replacing the Island Sky on the Saltery Bay-Earls Cove route; no connectivity with the Horseshoe Bay-Langdale route in the summer with the change in sailings on Tuesdays and Wednesdays; berth conflicts at the Westview ferry terminal at 8 am; lack of timely minutes; and the replacement vessel for the North Island Princess (NIP).

Since 2008, the committee has been asking for an update on the replacement vessel for the Burnaby, Cripps said, and in 2011, it arranged a meeting with provincial officials to discuss the issue. “Basically, the community at that time said that they were looking for like-for-like replacements,” he said. “We believe that we have a replacement vessel that’s too small, considering a 40-year life, and it’s not suited for the route, because it’s an open deck vessel.”

Cripps said it was a “huge service decision,” with no input until after the fact. “That’s just a terrible outcome in terms of the terms of reference—service item for the Northern Sunshine Coast,” he said. “Obviously, we’re disappointed, discouraged, frustrated.”

While the FAC provided a submission to BC Ferries and the BC Ferries Commissioner after the fact, Cripps said that is not consultation. “I think that is a major, major failure of this process,” he said.

Each of the committee members explained concerns about the other examples and expressed their overall opinion about the process, which was described as window dressing and lip service.

Corrine Storey, vice-president of BC Ferries customer services, said the company did provide consultation about the Burnaby replacement vessel through open houses and followed the commissioner’s protocol on allowing submissions to go to him for final decision.

Darin Guenette, BC Ferries manager of public affairs, explained company officials were surprised that the committee didn’t know about the ship shuffle and had already apologized for that.

Storey said BC Ferries should have given the committee more advanced notice about the Chilliwack. “We thought you understood,” she said. “Fair enough, you weren’t aware, but we do apologize.”

As for connecting with sailings from Langdale, Captain Al de Koninck, marine superintendent, said there was a group looking at the schedule and they realized it presented challenges for both the community and the company.

There is no issue about berth conflicts at 8 am with the Island Sky on the route, de Koninck said, but when the Burnaby comes back, the schedule may have to be pushed ahead 10 minutes. But the company will have to review how that would impact commercial users.

The company is setting deadlines for drafting and reviewing minutes, Guenette said, and the committee will be receiving them within a month of a meeting.

As for the NIP replacement, Storey said no decision has been made and several options are being analyzed. Once that process is completed, the company will present the options, including the challenges and benefits of each, to the community.

Storey said the company wasn’t trying to hide anything. “We are concerned about consultation,” she said. “We want to consult. Sometimes consultation doesn’t always go the way you want it.”

Sometimes the company doesn’t control everything because it has to work with the provincial government, Storey added. “At times we will mess up and we’ll say sorry and we’ll try to improve and move on,” she said. “It’s all about a continuous improvement.”