by Laura Walz [email protected] Members of Powell River Regional District (PRRD) board of directors have provided a vote of confidence for a discussion paper by coastal regional district chairs about improvements to coastal ferry service.
Colin Palmer, PRRD board chair and leader of the group, brought a draft of the paper to the September 15 committee-of-the-whole meeting. It represents the views of 12 coastal regional districts and suggests sweeping changes to the Coastal Ferry Act. “The impact on communities has been absolutely devastating,” said Palmer. “This is why all these regional board chairs have come together.”
The chairs, representing 66 per cent of BC’s population, believe the ferry system should be treated as a marine highway, Palmer said, pointing out that has implications for who pays the bills. “It won’t just be the ferry users,” he said. “It would be everybody in the province.” The rationale is all BC residents pay for roads and for ferry service in the interior of the province, which is free, Palmer said, so why should coastal residents be expected to shoulder the cost of ferry service?
The paper also suggests that local elected government officials and staff members of the ministry of transportation and infrastructure form the BC Ferry Authority board. As well, it recommends that the financial objectives of the coastal ferry service should be immediately redefined and fares should return to historic levels and/or be significantly reduced.
The new structure would remove political influence, Palmer said, and create more transparency. “It includes the communities as well as ferry users,” he said. “It emphasizes that this is a marine highway, because now we’ve got the whole province involved in it.”
PRRD board voted to support Palmer in his continuing work with the coastal regional district chairs group and its discussion paper at the September 22 board meeting.
The group of regional district chairs will meet with Premier Christy Clark and Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Blair Lekstrom, with whom they have already met, at the Union of BC Municipalities convention this week in Vancouver.
