BC Ferries’ math doesn’t add up, but political equation is clear
Reduction in service has little to do with bucks, but rather about reaping future votes
You hear a lot about the new math these days. A lot of people say it doesn’t make much sense. The BC Ferries’ bean counters must use new math because many of their proposed ferry cuts don’t make much sense either. Maybe it’s time to go back to the old math, where two and two didn’t add up to 14. That’s the magic number BC Ferries claims it will save ($ 14 million) by making cuts to multiple routes along the coast.
In a Jan. 13 news release, the Tourism Industry Association of BC ( TIABC) pointed out that tourism generates $ 13 billion a year in revenue in B. C. and contributes $ 1.13 billion in taxes. TIABC also pointed out the government will lose far more in tax revenue than it will save in these ferry cuts.
Take the elimination of Route 40, the Port HardyBella Coola sailing. While other routes are being “trimmed,” this one is being eliminated so BC Ferries can save $ 1.45 million through 2016. However, TIABC was quick to point out this will destroy a $ 10- million tourism economy in the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast in the process, as well as a multi- million dollar tourism industry on northern Vancouver Island. Those figures don’t include the loss to ancillary businesses such as grocery stores, gas stations, restaurants, and retail shops, all of which would pay taxes if they don’t go out of business.
The Port Hardy- Bella Coola direct sailing using the 125- car Queen of Chilliwack ( once a week, 12 hours duration, full of tourists), carries more than 70 per cent of the route’s passengers and creates the bulk of revenue. The route’s twice- weekly “milk runs” touching down at tiny communities such as the ghost town of Ocean Falls carry less than 30 per cent of the ridership and consume most of the costs. Yet the new BC Ferries plan will cut the profitable direct route while increasing the number of milk runs. It proposes using the 16- car Nimpkish, the smallest vessel in the entire fleet that requires 33 hours for the trip and is completely useless to tourists. Crews will have to be flown in and out of Bella Coola for each shift. Fuel costs are astronomical.
BC Ferries stated, as one of its guidelines for determining service cuts, that sailings having ridership of less than 20 per cent of capacity would be subject to discontinuation. However, sailings on multiple routes with ridership of as little as seven per cent of capacity are, for reasons unstated, somehow being retained. At least two of those poorer performing routes are slated to get new ferries. The TsawwassenDuke Point route has alone lost somewhere between $ 24 million to $ 30 million a year. A BC Ferries news release from Dec. 9, 2013, outlined the construction of three new ferries. One of those ferries, which is planned only as a backup vessel, has a capacity of 125 vehicles and is a perfect replacement vessel for the Queen of Chilliwack. The bogus argument that it would cost $ 100 million to replace the Queen of Chilliwack conveniently neglects to mention a replacement vessel is already being built.
Despite the fact that the president and two senior vicepresidents of a privatized but publicly supported BC Ferries paid themselves $ 1,547,000 last year for simultaneously raising ferries rates and reducing usage, and a bloated management structure consumes a jaw- dropping $ 64 million in compensation annually, it’s amazingly no economic impact study was ever undertaken before these latest service cuts were announced.
Neither was any consultation made with regional tourism boards or businesses in regards to the huge financial impact on local and overseas markets.
As a result, British Columbia’s reputation and reliability as a global tourism destination has taken a heavy hit. CSM Canada, a very large and successful Canadian receptive tour operator, states: “It will be very difficult to regain the confidence of our European agencies and clientele in regards to B. C.’ s west coast product offerings moving forward.”
One frustrated Bella Coola tourism operator whose business will go bankrupt contacted the government and asked how he could receive any help. He was given directions how he could apply online for “income assistance,” which is governmentspeak for its more common term of “welfare.”
He was told that WorkBC. ca’s Job Search tool also has “lots of other great information that can help give career direction” ( i. e. pack up and leave town.) Welfare is what happens to people who lose everything, even if it’s not of their own economic mismanagement.
Here’s the real math that all British Columbians should understand. These ferry cuts make no sense until you look at the big picture. BC Ferries has $ 1.4 billion of debt sitting on its books, and somebody has to pay it. The payer sure won’t be the provincial government; it will be the little guys, although how they will do so while stuck on welfare remains to be seen.
No, these cuts have little to do with counting dollars and everything to do with counting votes. Check the electoral map. Five out of six ridings affected economically voted NDP. It seems two and two add up to anything a politician wants when it comes to staying elected. The truth becomes collateral damage in the process.
Those those whose mathematical shortcomings require us to take off our socks to make change for a cheeseburger should learn one powerful accounting lesson: Next time, we could be the little guy who loses our job, home and life savings in the name of political expediency that masquerades as financial accountability when money really has little to do with it.