To anyone living in a ferry-dependent community, it hardly comes as a surprise that the health of a local economy is directly connected to the number of people using BC Ferries’ service. What may be surprising, though, is that it not just coastal communities that feel the economic sting when fewer people use the service.
According to a new report, Boatswains to the Bollards: a socioeconomic impact analysis of BC Ferries, commissioned by the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) and the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC), the effect of these fare increases has had a significant impact on the provincial economy.
Fare increases, in some cases close to 40 per cent, between 2003 and 2013 have resulted in close to 1.5 million fewer people using the services and a $2.3-billion reduction in British Columbia’s gross domestic product (GDP), a key indicator used to gauge economic health.
The report found that the ferry service stimulates $1.8 billion in annual expenditures which in turn creates $1.5 billion in total value-added GDP for the province.
If fare increases had been limited to rate of inflation, the report estimates, passenger volumes would have increased by 19 per cent adding $2.3 billion to provincial GDP over that 10-year period instead of declining by 11 per cent.
Though the findings of the report have been circulating in the province’s media for the past week, elected officials from BC’s regional districts and cities, including Powell River Regional District board chair Colin Palmer, will be meeting with the premier and key cabinet ministers in Whistler at the upcoming UBCM conference to raise concerns about the report’s findings.
During last year’s transportation and infrastructure ministry public consultations on ferry service for coastal communities a concern repeatedly raised was that the ferries are an extension of the province’s highway system. For minister Todd Stone it was a point the government could not concede.
Like highways, the ferry service provides coastal communities with economic development opportunities. When the only worry is raising fares to recover operating expenses, stimulating economic activities which add to government tax revenue and investing in the economic success of communities become secondary concerns.
Let’s hope that now with hard data on the impact the ferry service has had on the economy the provincial cabinet pays more attention.
