BCF's Annual Subsidy - $150 Million

[yvr]

The attached article appeared in last weeks Vancouver Sun. It tells the story of how BCF's unchallenged monopoly is subsidized to the tune of $150 million of your tax dollars per year. Further BCF does not pay income tax. It's a scathing story, that lays out BCF's dirty laundry.

As the story states, how are we to get free enterprise competition - with nonsense like this?
www.canada.com/vancouversun/columnists/story.html?id=984f3e9f-32c9-4a72-a718-bbda5a7be87a

[Scott]

They get the best of both worlds. They get the heavy subsidization and tax breaks, but they can pretend to be a private corporation that needs to raise fares and worry about the bottom line rather than the best interests of coastal communities. It is just as political as it was before - it's a sham.

[Mill Bay]

Subsidy or no...

The ferry service in BC is not something they can just play around with simply because they style themselves as a private company. They are offering a public service, and the service has to be there no matter what.

And when an emergency happens (ie the recent QofAlberni disruption), it is not, then, the time to worry about saving money. When the situation is critical, such a company should be expected to provide its service to the public first... and worry about balancing the costs later.

Whatever we might say about cost overruns, it is obvious that a supposedly independent run ferry corporation knows how to make money disappear just as well, if not better, than a provincially run ferry service. However, you'd think that $150 million would cover the costs of fuel prices quite nicely, so maybe they should use some of this public funding to buy fuel and stop charging the public extra for fuel surcharges because we've already paid for the fuel with tax dollars.

[Retrovision]

admin said:

They get the best of both worlds. They get the heavy subsidization and tax breaks, but they can pretend to be a private corporation that needs to raise fares and worry about the bottom line rather than the best interests of coastal communities. It is just as political as it was before - it's a sham.

Unfortunately, in British Columbia especially, this is simply considered smart politics in this day and age. "Kill two brids with one stone" as the saying goes - the BC "Liberal" (SoCred by roots and practice) government gets to both have reign over their ferry system while still getting to persue their well-established tactic of bashing the NDP for their own sake and seemingly no other by using the NDP's contententious treatmeant of the system done to them by their former dictator-like Leader, King Clark, who ends up political interfering in out system out of the the game and even ends-up winning another madate in Victoria partly through this assertion that we all know is a big load of wool over our eyes.

[Low Light Mike]

yvr said:

The attached article appeared in last weeks Vancouver Sun. It tells the story of how BCF's unchallenged monopoly is subsidized to the tune of $150 million of your tax dollars per year. Further BCF does not pay income tax. It's a scathing story, that lays out BCF's dirty laundry.

As the story states, how are we to get free enterprise competition - with nonsense like this?

I don't see anything new in Mr. Palmer's Sun story, that hasn't already been posted on this forum in other threads from similar stories in that same week. It seems like many local & regional newspapers are publishing similar stories, in the past 3 weeks.

ferriesbc.proboards20.com/index.cgi?board=bcferriesnews&action=display&thread=1179358289
(see replies #8, #9, #10 more other news stories on this same type of topic).

[Neil]

yvr said:

The attached article appeared in last weeks Vancouver Sun. It tells the story of how BCF's unchallenged monopoly is subsidized to the tune of $150 million of your tax dollars per year. Further BCF does not pay income tax. It's a scathing story, that lays out BCF's dirty laundry.

As the story states, how are we to get free enterprise competition - with nonsense like this?
www.canada.com/vancouversun/columnists/story.html?id=984f3e9f-32c9-4a72-a718-bbda5a7be87a

Just noticed this old thread, and it made me think of a recent story which mentioned Alaska State Ferries' subsidy of over $130 million.

For $130 million, they carry about 350,000 passengers.

For $150 million, BC Ferries carries over 20 million.

Tell me again how we're being scandalized by a shocking waste of taxpayers' money.

[Quatchi]

Here Here Neil

We gotta face the fact that running a system like this is freaking expensive. Especially when I am sure 25% of the runs are in the red during the winter.

Cheers,

[ferrytraveller]

well i believe the subsidy is necessary, but i like it because it is paid for by the PROVINCE. This as well as know, means everyone in the province in on the hook and the ferries don't become a user pay system. I think the province should get there heads examined and realise that BC Ferries is, and always will be, a part of the highways system!! This means Don't make the system, a user pay system.

[Low Light Mike]

ferrytraveller said:

This means Don't make the system, a user pay system.

Are you saying zero user-fee, or partial-user fee?

How much is too much?

[ferrytraveller]

well i am saying a small user fee similar to what it was, because it does cost something to keep the ferries running.

[Neil]

Left or right, BC's political parties have always shown a severe disconnect with reality when it comes to our ferry system. As these Vancouver Province articles from August 27th, 1995 remind us, the NDP thought that BC Ferries could operate without a subsidy. Or at least, that's what they wanted us to believe. At least they weren't trying to sell us the line about BC Ferries being a viable private company, free of political interference, but still...

Ever since Bill Bennett turned BC Ferries into a crown corporation, we've heard nothing but nonsense and delusions about what is essentially a public utility.

[Low Light Mike]

Note:
I've moved the posts on the BC Gov't review of BCFS & Translink to a separate thread, on this same page.