Powell Riverites had an opportunity last week to gather and collectively express their concerns with escalating fares and the services of BC Ferries, an opportunity not missed by many.
The visit from BC Ferry Commissioner Gord Macatee and Deputy Commissioner Sheldon Stoilen to Powell River and Texada Island, and their legislatively granted review of the Coastal Ferry Act, shows genuine interest in the opinions of ferry-dependent communities. They did not have to conduct these public meetings, they chose to do it.
At the meetings the commissioners heard the concerns of the community. They heard that people are upset over how the company is run and over the high salaries of management. They heard the level of frustration that the inland ferry service remains free to use while coastal ferries, for which there is no alternative, are becoming unaffordable. They heard from many who would like to see the Coastal Ferry Act scrapped altogether and responsibility for the service returned to government.
They also heard why people are so upset. They’re upset because they don’t get to see their families as much as they did in the past. They’re upset because their businesses are struggling with the high cost of shipping and transportation. They’re upset because they don’t believe that BC Ferries, the provincial government or anybody else is listening to what they have to say.
Comments about BC Ferries’ service and ideas such as home docking do not necessarily fall within BC Ferry Commission’s mandate, but they speak to the overall concern that something needs to change. At the end of their tour the commissioners will present recommendations to government on how to better take into account the interests of ferry users. The government needs to listen as intently as the commissioners did.
The only way the ferries are going to become cheaper for users is if the government increases its subsidy, the company caters more toward user needs and, perhaps, if the cost and profits of the ferry system are shared across all routes and no longer separated. All of these options require a willingness of everyone to support the system as a whole because obviously this community cannot do it alone.
The BC ferry system is a provincial asset. Powell River, Texada Island and other communities like them have been, and continue to be, the backbone of the province and its resource-based economy. To threaten the very livelihood and existence of these communities by failing to address escalating ferry fares is unacceptable.
We need to see the regulations surrounding ferry service change enough to make a difference because the status quo isn’t working.
