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Carbon tax could lead to higher ferry fares by year's end...Read more
Undo privatization, Liberals urged...Read more
Opposition critic’s visit ignites ferry criticisms... Read more
Debt could sink BC Ferries

Debt could sink BC Ferries

Vancouver Island News Group

Wed 27 Feb 2008

Campbell River Mirror

If ferry workers are half right in their assertions about privatization of B.C. Ferries, the travelling public should be concerned.

The B.C. Ferry and Marine Workers Union says all the debt B.C. Ferries has taken on since becoming a quasi-private entity - some $950 million worth of bonds, plus a $335 million line of credit - puts the corporation in a precarious position.

Because as costs rise, ferry fares rise and fewer people travel by ferry.

If it's allowed to continue, it could create a spiraling gap between what Ferries needs to stay in the black and what it takes in.

Not a good situation, as the ferry fleet ages and needs replacement.

As a quasi-private entity, the ferry corporation now derives the bulk of its income from sales of fares.

And those fares keep rising, as do the fuel surcharge that is added to every fare.

The union-supported Save Our Ferries committee says the new model threatens to sink the corporation, putting all its assets in the hands of bankers.

Vessels, terminals and property bought with taxpayers money.

Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon insists the debt is safe, and if so, we can all relax.

But it's difficult to relax when in its present incarnation, Ferries lacks accountability.

It is no longer subject to checks like B.C. Freedom of Information legislation, the provincial auditor general's or the ombudsman's office.

If the union hasn't overstated the threat debt poses for B.C. Ferries, it's time to pull the plug on this model of ferry management, before it all goes down the drain.

Copyright 2008 Campbell River Mirror

B.C.'s carbon tax could lead to higher ferry fares by year's end

By Jack Keating

The Vancouver Province

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

B.C.'s new carbon tax could lead to higher ferry fares by year's end.
"It's an added expense to our fuel costs," said B.C. Ferries spokeswoman Deborah Marshall, adding an increase could come by Oct. 1.
The carbon tax is bigger for B.C. Ferries than for motorists.
Motorists will pay an extra 2.4 cents on a litre of gasoline as of July 1, increasing to 7.24 cents per litre by 2012. B.C. Ferries will pay 2.76 per litre for light diesel fuel from July 1, rising to 8.27 cents in 2012.
"We purchase on average about 120 million litres of fuel per year," said Marshall. "And we do have a fuel surcharge in place."
The fuel surcharge on the Lower Mainland to Vancouver Island routes is now $3.65 on a $47 fare, bring the total cost to $50.65.
TransLink does not anticipate raising fares because of the carbon tax announced in Tuesday's budget, said spokesman Ken Hardie.
"In terms of the actual impact of the additional tax, it's probably about $1 million more a year to operate the buses," Hardie said. "But that's actually not a lot of money, compared to the overall cost of providing transit."
In an Ipsos Reid poll taken for Global News, 46 per cent of respondents approved of the carbon tax and 52 per cent disapproved.
Only 22 per cent thought that carbon tax would pay a significant role in reducing B.C.'s greenhouse-gas emissions and 76 per cent thought it would not be significant at all.
Just 13 per cent thought they would drive less because of the tax, while 70 per cent said they would not change their driving habits.
Maureen Bader of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation said the carbon tax will not be revenue neutral, as promised by the finance minister, for people who need to drive to work.
"Anybody who has to drive a lot, they're going to be hit very hard by this tax," said Bader.
Businesses will pass their carbon taxes on to consumers, she said.
"It's going to be quite inflationary, as the costs are passed on."
NDP Leader Carole James calls the green plan pre-election politics.
"The fact that the premier didn't care about climate change until this last year, when we're getting closer to the election, shows that it's all about politics," she said.
James said she supports a fair carbon tax, but not when transit fares have already gone up and ferry fares are likely to go up.
"Every time people turn around, this government is taking more money from them," she said.
Finance Minister Carole Taylor said she hopes that income-tax cuts and credits for low-income earners will defray the carbon tax.
"They will have dollars in their pocket," Taylor said. "The dollars we collect will be back in your pocket so that you can make the choices. We don't tell you what to do."
Taylor said the carbon tax puts a price on its use, and it will become more expensive, year-by-year.
"Therefore, we've got time and we've got options to start thinking about changing some of our patterns."
Gasoline prices shot up yesterday as the price of crude oil soared to an all-time high. Across the Lower Mainland, the price of a litre of regular went up by an average of seven cents to $1.14.

jkeating@png.canwest.com

© The Vancouver Province 2008

Opposition critic’s visit ignites ferry criticisms

By Amy Geddes

Gulf Islands Driftwood

February 20, 2008

Public input gathered by MLA
Rick Saunders is a Salt Spring resident and senior who depends on the ferry system to get him to his monthly doctor’s appointment in Vancouver.
He has lost faith that he, and other seniors living in ferry-dependent communities, have a voice that the government is willing to listen to.
“The only time the government wants to listen to us,” said Saunders, “is when it wants to get re-elected.”
Saunders was one of 26 people attending a presentation hosted by NDP ferries critic Gary Coons at ArtSpring on Sunday.
While Saunders was skeptical, Coons’ repeatedly assured the audience that his visit to Salt Spring, and other ferry dependent communities, was to “listen” and to “be a voice.”
It was evident the audience wanted to be heard.
Concerns with skyrocketing fares, highway privatization and B.C. Ferries’ exemption from the Freedom of Information Act regulations nearly reached boiling point about 15 minutes after hearing Coons speak.
A handful of audience members found themselves unable to keep their hands down, quickly stole the show from Coons, broke down the presentation format and made way for a lively round of audience-driven dialogue.
“Who is getting to see the figures?” said one woman in the audience.
“Are there figures we can have so if a newspaper talks to us, we can hand them some?” said a male audience member.
Limited access to information was a concern voiced by several audience members and echoed by Coons.
They wanted to know how B.C. Ferries manages and accounts for its finances.
On at least four different issues, the crowd turned to Gregg Dow, leader of the Save Our Ferries campaign, who was even called upon by Coons to explain the difficulties surrounding access to B.C. Ferries’ financial information.
A female Salt Spring resident of 15 years was disappointed with the event turnout.
“Why is no one paying attention?” she asked. “I find this mind boggling.”
Coons, the North Coast MLA, gave audience members the option of signing a petition, something he has offered each ferry community he has visited so far.
It requests a moratorium on fares until a special legislative committee is put in place to look after the Coastal Ferries Act — a committee that would work directly with ferry-dependent communities to “find out what works and what doesn’t.”
“We want to hear stories,” said Coons, as he invited everyone to e-mail him with further concerns.
The results of his public consultation tour around B.C. coastal communities will be compiled into a report.
Saunders asked Coons, “If [the NDP] become the government in 2009, what specific steps would you take to remedy what you consider to be the problems?”
Coons’ reply was that they would have to sit down with coastal communities and take another look at the Coastal Ferries Act.
“Right now we don’t have a grasp on the finances,” he said.
“It seems like B.C. Ferries is making money, but I don’t think they are.”
Saunders left the presentation convinced the government still was not listening.
“There wasn’t a single government representative in there,” he said.

By Amy Geddes

© Gulf Islands Driftwood

Undo privatization, Liberals urged
Union cites costs, launches Save Our Ferries blitz

Christina Montgomery, with a file by Andy Ivens

The Vancouver Province

Monday, February 04, 2008

The ferry workers union is ramping up a campaign to undo privatization of the fleet -- and restore the system as an extension of B.C.'s highways.

With just over a year to the next election, the Save Our Ferries campaign appears to be aimed not at B.C. Ferries, but directly at Premier Gordon Campell's Liberal Party.

Campbell privatized running of the fleet in 2003, giving the company a mandate to operate on a commercial basis, float loans for all new vessels and push as fast as possible to full user-pay funding.
About 22 million people ride the ferries each year.

The campaign will push for public hearings on privatization and an end to it, if the public demands it.
To be launched this morning at www.saveourferries.com, the campaign offers detailed analysis of the company's public financial disclosures and concludes that:
- The company has outstanding bond debts of $950 million and room for another $335 million in bank loans for new ferries, a total of $1.285 billion in debt that taxpayers will inherit if the company fails. To back its debt, the company has mortgaged its terminal leases, its vessels and even its guaranteed annual provincial subsidy.
- The need to generate money that used to be part of regular provincial spending will drive fares up massively by 2011 -- by a minimum of 103 per cent on the Bowen Island route, 82 per cent on the Sunshine Coast, 79 per cent between Port Hardy and Prince Rupert, and 43 per cent on Vancouver Island-Lower Mainland routes. The figures are based on two-per-cent inflation and include fuel surcharges up to 2008. Fares will be higher if further fuel surcharges are approved, or new ship construction is included.
- The "scary" financial position of the company requires more public oversight. In late 2006, the auditor-general said the company puts the province at "significant risk" and recommended the government improve monitoring and reporting. Campbell has yet to respond.

Gregg Dow, a crew member on the Queen of Nanaimo assigned to run the campaign, said the push is aimed at forcing Campbell to hold public consultations on the Coastal Ferry Act that designed the system.

"The ferry system is an economic engine of the province," Dow said. "Higher and higher fares are not good for tourism, for manufacturing, for farming, businesses or the social fabric. The last thing we need to do right now is turn small islands into ghost towns.

"User pay? Is the highway to Stewart, or Kimberley, fully user pay? Is TransLink? The Lions Gate Bridge? Do people really think they get on a bus and pay the full cost of running it? Why should ferry users?"
Transport Minister Kevin Falcon said fare increases under the NDP in the 1990s were greater than in the past seven years under the Liberals.

"And you haven't got politicians interfering," he said. "I think that's a far better system than what we had in the '90s.
"What you had in the '90s was a corporation that was basically bankrupt.

"The NDP had to write off $1 billion and they, frankly, pissed away half a billion dollars on three boats that are still sitting in the harbour in North Vancouver.

"So, the question you have to ask is: What does saveourferries.com want us to go back to?
"Apparently, they want us to go back to government running the ferry fleet. I'm asking, 'For what benefit?' "