There appears to be widespread consensus that the transformation of BC Ferries into a stand-alone corporation hasn’t worked. Even though the provincial government is the sole shareholder, the switch from a Crown corporation to a quasi-private company has resulted in unaffordable fares for most coastal residents, reduced ridership and a stranglehold on communities that are ferry dependent.
A new report by Gordon Wilson, a former provincial politician who at one time was the minister responsible for BC Ferries, documents the fiscal unfairness for coastal residents as a result of the change. Among many excellent points, Wilson argues that while the ferry corporation has drifted into financial peril and threatens the economy of ferry dependent communities, interior ferries continue to be built and operated free of any direct charge to users through the ministry of transportation and infrastructure and the BC Transportation Financing Authority (BCTFA). Wilson believes BC Ferries should be treated as a tolled portion of the highways and financed through the BCTFA, where amortization of cost is more equitably shared by all British Columbians.
The current structure for BC Ferries fails the test of fiscal fairness and discriminates against those who live in coastal communities, Wilson contends.
So far in the provincial election campaign, both the BC Liberals and New Democratic Party are avoiding the issue of BC Ferries. Yet, as Wilson points out, BC Ferries services an area with 20 per cent of BC’s population and a wide variety of industries and commercial enterprises, which together provide tax contributions of roughly 36 per cent of BC’s annual revenue. However, the area only benefits from about six per cent of capital expenditure on highways, including the expenditure on ferries.
Only the BC Conservatives have highlighted the issue. Leader John Cummins has detailed a proposal to give a tax credit to people who spend more than $780 and less than $1,800 a year on ferry fares and bridge tolls. The tax credit would be equal to 40 per cent, which could amount to as much as $408 a year per individual for a frequent traveller on the ferries.
Both major parties have so far ducked the issue, despite a plethora of excellent reports suggesting new service models, capital plans and funding mechanisms. Clearly, now is the time to address the issue, re-examine the structure and make a decision on a model that works for coastal communities, residents and their economies. We have to get back to recognizing that the ferry service is an asset to be operated for the benefit of the public who is the owner.
