Required Reading 101: Your Ferry Fiasco now, Mr. Premier

The Vancouver Province’s Michael Smyth weighs into the debate over the Queen of the North disaster off of Gill Island and the state of the BC ferry corporation due to political maneuvering. Required reading for all on the North coast and through the province!

THIS IS YOUR FERRY FIASCO NOW, MR. PREMIER
$44 Million Waste:
NDP blew it, but Liberals have ignored safety risks for years.
By Michael Smyth
In the House column
The Vancouver Province
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Page A7

It didn’t take long for the terrifying sinking of the Queen of the North to turn political at the B. C. legislature.

Premier Gordon Campbell, after first offering comforting words for the ferry passengers and praising the heroic efforts of rescuers, was quick to highlight the failure to invest in the ferry fleet during the 1990’s.

Ah, the 90’s: the dark decade of the NDP, when the notorious “fast ferry fiasco” swallowed up $463 million of public money into a black hole of scarcely believable government waste and mismanagement.

The high-speed aluminum catamarans were the brainchild of then premier Glen Clark, who famously guaranteed that the three sleek ‘n’ sexy vessels would cost $210 million “right down to the toilet paper.”

Not only did the Pacificats go obscenely over budget, they also didn’t work as promised. After Campbell’s Liberals took power in 2001, they unloaded the three floating lemons for pennies on the dollar, selling them for a paltry $19 million at public auction.

Net loss to the B. C. taxpayers: $444 million. Net damage to coastal residents who rely on our ferry system: incalculable.

Think of what that $444 million could have done for our aging fleet of ferries over the last decade. If that money had been strategically invested in the system, there’s little doubt the ill-fated Queen of the North would have been near the top of the replacement list.

The 37 year old ferry was obsolete. It was a single compartment hull vessel, unlike modern ferries that feature hulls divided into watertight cells to prevent flooding in exactly the type of accident that occurred yesterday.

In fact, Transport Canada had ordered the ferry corporation to replace the creaking Queen of the North by 2012. If not for the fast ferry fiasco, the ferry may have been reduced to scrap metal well before now.

None of this gives Campbell and the Liberals a free pass to blame every problem in our ferry system on the NDP, however – though they always do just that.
The Liberals have been in power for five years and have known all along the safety risks of an aging ferry fleet.

In fact, NDP MLA Gary Coons warned just last month that the three ferries that serve the north coast were in danger of sinking in an accident.

“The biggest problem is that the vessels have single compartments that could fill with water if the hull is breached,” he told the Queen Charlotte Island Observer.

Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon wrote a letter to the newspaper accusing Coons of “fear mongering.” But yesterday Falcon refused to say whether the two remaining ancient northern ferries are safe, saying that’s federal responsibility.

That’s hardly reassuring. But it’s sickening to think that if so much money hadn’t been wasted on the fast ferries, the argument might be academic by now.

Listen to Nightline B. C. with Michael Smyth every weeknight at 7 p. m. on CKNW AM 980. Voice mail: 604-605-2004 E mail- msmyth@direct.ca