British Columbia Transportation Minister Shirley Bond is defending the decision not to add a “public interest” goal into the legislation governing the province's ferry system.
“I think we are adding additional accountability and transparency and certainly one of the things the commissioner will now be expected to do, for example, is post information about the information around the fare cap discussion and he will be inviting public commentary,” Bond said in an interview last week.
Changes to the Coastal Ferry Act announced April 29 will make B.C. Ferries subject to freedom of information legislation and will cap the earnings of future executives.
The changes, while received by many as a step forward, fall short of the action suggested by Comptroller General Cheryl Wenezenki-Yolland and desired by the Ferry Advisory Committee Chairs.
“There is a risk that a focus on the profitability or sustainability of the ferry operator exclusively could be at the expense of the public service mandate of the ferry system,” Wenezenki-Yolland wrote in a report released last November. “To ensure appropriate attention is placed on all intended objectives the province should clarify its expectations, communicate them publicly, and ensure they are incorporated clearly in the B.C. Ferries governance framework and corresponding legislation.”
Last week the FACC criticized Bond for failing to add to the Coastal Ferry Act a seventh principle that would make it clear that the ferry commissioner should take the public interest into account when making decisions.
Bond said adding a principle to the act is unnecessary. “Certainly underwritten in the legislation is that there be consideration of the public interest,” she said. “I think we've moved a long way in the direction of what the Ferry Advisory Committees are interested in seeing.”
She looks forward to receiving more input from the FACC in the weeks ahead, she said.
Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee’s Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria. Reach him here.
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freebear
2 years ago
Just like castrating BC Utilities Commission
Of course the Liberal government does not want the goal of public interest in the legislation!
It is not a principle they believe in!
They prefer, and believe in, the goal of rewarding their cronies!
crh
2 years ago
Typical Liberal
Typical Liberal answer.
Yup, the people don't matter. The ferries must be there to look pretty and not serve the travelling public and supply lines to small communities.
Who votes for these idiots anyway???
Polakite
2 years ago
Well,
Public interest today, PacifiCats tomorrow
Remember that?!?
Read this for the reminder: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_Ferry_Scandal
alive
2 years ago
reallY?
sounds like an insult to the public!
Frank
2 years ago
Polakite
The Pacificats were built in BC. The money stayed here providing good jobs.
Campbell built his ferries in Germany, to pay for it we got a reduction in the minimum wage to $6 an hour.
freebear
2 years ago
Go Polka dance on the FastCats!
Polakite!
Surprised you don't bring up the Avro Arrow too!
North of Hope
2 years ago
Stick with the issue
Stick with the issue, Polakite, the BC Liberals don't think the ferries have to operate in the public interest.
Skywalker
2 years ago
Not in the "public interest'?
That really begs the question: then in whose interest?
Campbell's?
Hahn's?
BC Liberal's?
Friends of BC Liberal's?
Foreign Labour?
Liberal Cronies?
Realist
2 years ago
"I think we are adding
"I think we are adding additional accountability and transparency and certainly one of the things the commissioner will now be expected to do, for example, is post information about the information around the fare cap discussion and he will be inviting public commentary,” Bond said in an interview last week.
Perhaps Shirley should not base decisions upon "what she thinks" and instead base them upon what is best for British Columbians. We have seen so many examples of this government's decisions based upon what is best for big business and the wealthy, to know what these crooks think about the public.
Any pronoucement given based upon "WHAT I THINK" are based upon ideology and not proven scientific thought, or best interests. We know enough about these politicians to distrust what they think.
Lorne
2 years ago
Martin Krilly
We already have a " Ferry Commissioner" who is supposed to act in the public interest. Yet, this Lilberal hack has always approved any of the indignities foisted on the public by David Hahn, Gordon Campbell et al. How did this useless bureaucrat, with an undoubtedly huge salary, get the job? Could it be his connections to the BC Liberals, specifically another Liberal politician of questionable ethics, the late Stan Hagen? We'll never know, for the Good Old Boys that run this province will cover their tracks, even as they stuff their back pockets with the taxpayer's hard earned dollars.
samuidave (not verified)
2 years ago
Shirley Bond, we know who you work for.
"Politics would be a helluva good business if it weren't for the goddamned people." -- Former U.S. president Richard Nixon
Clearly she shows us the contempt politicians hold for the public in our corporate-democracy. The BC Liberal neo-cons soothe their bleeding conscience by believing the "noble lie" is righteous (well, those who have a conscience).
Polakite
2 years ago
@Frank
Oh, really?
Yeah, what fast ferries is BC building today?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but none now.
MGS
2 years ago
Pacificats
There sure seems to be a lot of Liberal idiots out there that are still trying to get mileage or traction out of the NDP pacificat issue. Firstly; that issue pales in comparison to any of the issues that the liberal goverment have on their plate that are screwing the people of this province. The biggest fiasco ever was the Olympics which there seemed to be an endless supply of money for. Where did we have a choice in that one. Gordo knows best! A two week binge that we'll probably never know the price tag and be paying for for many years to come or sell off the rights to our resoursees to pay it off quicker. Secondly;You have a government bought and paid for by all stripes of buisness including the main stream media. Real news isn't reported or it is played down. The liberals have lied through their teeth and have yet to be held accountable. Every time you turn around there is more taxes added and less services. The fast cat ferry thing at least trained and employed citizens of this province who paid taxes here on the money that they earned. It also was the liberals who gave the fast cats away at less than scrap prices to people who turned around and made a pile of money re-selling them. So; Enough of this bullshit already! Now you have ferry rates at a point where people will go out of their way not to use them. This is an extra tax on people who live on the island and the ferry system is supposed to be a part of the highway system. The liberals took the toll off the Coquihalla connector yet they raise the toll to Vancouver Island.
Chris Keam
2 years ago
Shipbuilding in BC
While we may not be currently building fast ferries in BC, we are building ships. One might assume that the fast ferries contract helped train and/or employ many of the same people who will be working on this contract (link and quote below).
Without a skilled labour pool available presumably these jobs (700-800 well-paying positions) would be headed elsewhere.
http://www.washingtonmarinegroup.com/_global/_content/docs/100413%20Media%20Release%20-%20Teaming%20Agreement%20Announced.pdf
"FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Washington Marine Group (WMG) is pleased to announce the signing of a Teaming Agreement with Thales Canada forming a strategic alliance to provide the Government of Canada a single solution for the future build and in service support of the Arctic Offshore Patrol Ships (AOPS). The AOPS program is worth over $2 billion dollars, delivering 6 ice breaking patrol vessels to the Canadian Navy, as part of the Federal Government’s National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy (NSPS). It will provide 700 to 800 skilled jobs to BC shipbuilders and 40 to 60 high hechnology jobs, in Ontario."
Skywalker
2 years ago
I wish I had said that.
"Firstly; that issue pales in comparison to any of the issues that the liberal government have on their plate that are screwing the people of this province." Come to think of it, I did. Thanks MGS!