MLA finds backlash to rising ferry fares

It’s probably the easiest question a politician could ever ask his or her constituents “Are you angry with rising ferry fares?”

And for Gary Coons, the NDP MLA for the North Coast the reaction from British Columbians has been pretty apparent, nobody is happy about the rising fares and few are very happy with the state of ship at BC Ferries these days.

In a press release from February 6th, the NDP MLA said that; "The Campbell Liberal government has abandoned coastal communities". A refrain he has repeated over the last few months as the NDP brought heat onto the Provincial government over the issue of BC Ferries.

Coons has been conducting a tour of coastal communities, and at the half way point his findings are that coastal users of the BC Ferry System, many of them in isolated areas of the coast, have a number of concerns about how they are being treated by the Ferry Corporation and by the Provincial Government.

The Daily news provided details of his work so far in Monday’s paper as their front page story.

FERRY-DEPENDENT TOWNS ARE SUNK BY RISING FARES: COONS

By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Monday, February 11, 2008
Page one

An intermediate report by North Coast MLA Gary Coons is highlighting the pain being felt by ferry-dependent coastal communities that are cringing in anticipation of huge ferry fare increases.

Coons, the NDP critic for ferries, said he is finding a massive backlash against rising fares that are being blamed for hurting families, communities and businesses.

"The Campbell Liberal government has abandoned coastal communities," said Coons.

"Not only are skyrocketing fare increases hampering people's ability to live in coastal communities, they are fundamentally unfair."

Coons is half-way through a tour of coastal communities during which he has been meeting stakeholders and hosting public forums. So far, he has spoken to residents and business owners in 17 communities on Vancouver Island, the North Coast, Gulf Islands, and the Sunshine Coast.
“Communities like Kuper Island are completely dependent on our ferries for buying food, clothing and medicine,” said Coons. “Rising fares are making it extremely difficult for the people to live.”

Prepaid fares to travel to Kuper Island have gone up more than 60 per cent since 2003.
The situation is similar to that of people living on the Queen Charlotte islands, who, also rely on the ferry system as their ‘marine highway’.

Residents on the Islands are facing prepaid increases of 8.8 to 10.5 per cent on the Skidegate-to-Alfred Bay route. Coons started his tour in November, and he will continue visiting island and northern communities until March.

“We need to get back the notion that B. C. Ferries is being operated in the public interest,” said Denise Reinhardt, a Ferry Advisory Committee member who attended one of the public meetings.

Last November, Coons urged the province to support the creation of a “Ferry Dependent Communities Strategy” to ensure the long-term viability of ferry routes to remote communities and the viability of those communities, and to freeze ferry fares at the Nov.1, 2007, rate until the “Ferry Dependent Communities Strategy” is enacted.

Most recently, Coons held a meeting in Victoria on Tuesday to collect information. His tour is expected to wrap up this March.