Editor:
On Oct. 7, the Coast Reporter reported that BC Ferries had filed a plan with the Ferry Commissioner for the ferry services on the Horseshoe Bay-Langdale route.
The plan basically says: continue as we are (one ferry with a second as backup as needed, when possible) and a new ferry to replace the ageing Queen of Surrey in the 2028, and still only one ferry sometime after 2028, with backup as needed.
Alas, the next six years and beyond we can expect the same as we have now. Overloads, delays, frustration, anger, waste, ship breakdowns. In other words: Brace yourselves folks. More of the same. No new ferry for six years or more, and then still a one-ferry service.
We ought to be yelling: “I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!” as Peter Finch did in Network.
Sure, some have complained loudly to BC Ferries. They are barking up the wrong tree.
The fact is BC Ferry Services does what it is contracted to do by the BC government. The big decisions for new ferries, service standards, two ferries, terminal improvements, etc. rest with the B.C. government. It is political. (Note the recent appointment of Joy McPhail, former minister of Finance in Glen Clark’s NDP government, to chair of the BC Ferry Services board)
Pressure for improved service has to be political: Directly on the Premier, the Ministers of Transportation and Finance, our elected MLA, Nicholas Simons, the Opposition parties. Our federal representative, MP Patrick Weiler, should also have an interest in this problem, right here in the middle of his riding.
I believe the newly elected mayors of Powell River, Sechelt and Gibsons – Messrs Woznow, Henderson and White, respectively, have a great opportunity to provide the leadership in mounting the pressure on Victoria.
Let’s open the windows and start yelling like Peter Finch.
John Hansen, Halfmoon Bay
