Greens like B.C. Ferries as a Crown corporation
B.C. Green Leader Sonia Furstenau says, if elected, her party would restore B.C. Ferries as a Crown corporation.
Speaking at a campaign stop in Brentwood Bay on Vancouver Island, Furstenau said the ferries system should be viewed as necessary infrastructure and not as a profit-driven business.
“It's not about whether they make a profit at the end of the year,” she said.
“It's about whether they run smoothly and allow the economy to function optimally.”
B.C. Ferries, which was established as a Crown corporation in 1960 by the Social Credit government of the day, was transformed into a half public/half private entity in 2003 by the B.C. Liberals.
Although the service is still publicly owned and the B.C. government remains its sole shareholder, B.C. Ferries operates under the direction of an independent board and its fares are regulated by an independent ferry commissioner.
The province provides $200 million annually to B.C. Ferries.
Furstenau promised to conduct a full review of B.C. Ferries operations focused on providing an efficient, public service for British Columbians, and on improving the role of ferries in B.C.'s transportation network.
“We make investments in our transportation networks like roads and transit because we recognize that they are essential for peoples' mobility and are about opening up economic opportunity,” said Furstenau, who noted an NDP review of the ferry service, launched in 2017, did not address governance.
“We need to stop pretending that ferries should, or could, be run with a profit motive and bring their focus back to the essential services they provide to our communities.”
B.C. Ferries posted consolidated net earnings of $28.8 million for fiscal 2020 (April 1 to March 31), compared to earnings of $52.2 million in 2019.
The corporation blamed the COVID-19 pandemic, which significantly impacted vehicle and passenger traffic, for the decline in revenue.
In August, federal Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said the ferry service, which claimed to have lost as much as $130 million in expected revenue, would be eligible for some of the $540-million financial package meant to spur recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.