Do you Agree with the NDP?

[Fenklebaum reluctant NDPer]

I would like to say straight off that although I bear little love for the NDP, I bear them far less of a grudge than I do the Liberals. Other than my disgust at their apparent lack of concience with regards to social programs and the environment, I only have one thing against them. And it's personal.

Without their axing the whole of the interior health care system, my uncle would've recieved the surgery he needed on time. Oh, he lived, to be sure. Things were a lot worse, thought, because of his local hospital being shut down. Oh! I almost forgot! A parent losing their job as well. Surely, that's no reason to bear a grudge, to be sure. How silly of me.

Having said that...

User fees: Wrong. BC Ferries are an extension of the highways system. The highways are there for all to use. User fees will make ferry travel astronomically expensive, only allowing the more wealthy to travel. Added to that, there are a great many on the smaller islands who depend on the ferry for their very survival. So LET'S JACK UP THE PRICE!

Subsidizing the Mormon polygamous school in Bountiful does not make sense, yet they're doing it. (yes, that wasn't the liberals, yada yada)
Subsidizing a provincial highways system makes sense. Subsidizing a provincial marine highway system makes sense.
-Start doing it.

[kylefossett]

yes the new upgraded terminals and ships are great. now that bc ferries is a "private" company they do not have to answer to the people of this province when it comes to the major projects that cost alot. in the past there would be all kinds of questions as to if we actually need the upgrades. now they just do it and don't have to answer

[cascade]

This whole thing about bringing BCFS up to date will take time and be very painful in doing so. I have seen first hand in Europe - the same problems that BC ferries face now. It was faced in the mid 80's over here and like I have mentioned in the past posting - some of the rewards have been great - but there have been a number of very public failings. So much so that it has cost the country millions - more than the country could afford to lose.

A lot of it is down to the management of the business and the mandate they have from there "owners" in the case of BC Ferries the people of the province.

So will the management of BC Ferries get it right? Well given time maybe. I would have preferred to see a Canadian in the hot seat - but...... let's go with the hand we are dealt with. I do see possible problems in that BC Ferries ramped up - in man power in the 70's - so the work force is getting near retirement age - so pension can be a problem - plus training of new younger work force - re-training the older work force on the new vessel for December 2007. What is the view of "Engineer" on this concept. Yes we know you are retiring - but what sort of work force - age wise is there currently in place?

[BrianWilliams]

John H said:

"I think some people forget that the reason BC Ferries was created was because private companies couldn't provide adequate and dependable service to the Island in the first place. "

Well, sort of. In spring 1958, there was a crippling strike on CP ferries, which spread to the newer Blackball operation.

WAC Bennett, the paragon of free enterprise, was completing his deal to nationalize BC Electric at the time. With his hard-nosed advisor Bob Bonner's help, WAC created BC Hydro and BC Ferries in the same year.

Bennett, the sworn enemy of socialism, created our two largest govt corporations in one year. Good for him.

BCF was conceived as a public utility. It was not meant to run at a loss overall, but Bennett understood that minor routes couldn't pay if they provided effective service. Early BCF carried Vancouver-Victoria, Vancouver-Nanaimo traffic at rates just high enough to subsidize other routes.

Brilliant WAC Bennett! He was a monopolist. He did drive companies like Coast Ferries, Union Steamships and Northland Navigation out of the passenger business on our coast. Eventually, our BC Ferries reduced mighty CPR to a once-daily 3 am freight sailing to Nanaimo, until even they gave that up 25 years ago.

So, BC Ferries has a responsibility to serve our coast. Socred, NDP or Liberal, BC governments are operators of the best ferry fleet in the world.

I think Bennett was right. He saw our coastal ferries as an integral part of BC transportation. Bring on competition like Harbourlynx and Helijet. They add valuable options to cross-Georgia travel.

But do not allow gypsy ferries into HB or Tsawwassen. I'll bet P&O (Malaysia) LLC would love to siphon off our only revenue-rich routes. Tell 'em to bid on Bella Bella-Ocean Falls-Port Hardy if they are so dedicated to serving BC.

[Engineer]

[quote author=cascade board=BCF
What is the view of "Engineer" on this concept. Yes we know you are retiring - but what sort of work force - age wise is there currently in place?

because the ferries stopped sending its own employees to school to upgrade their tickets, they are now very short of licensed engineers and deck officers.
getting time off is almost impossible as there are no people to relief us.Since there has been very little wage increase in the past 12 years they are finding it hard to get engineers from overseas as we are at a lower pay scale.
The ferries have shot them selfs in the foot and now are trying to deal with it at our expence.........
good luck to them

[Curtis]

That ain't good

[kylefossett]

i also heard that if and when the offshore oil opens up here in bc that bc ferries could end up losing alot of ticketed people to that.

[Engineer]

If off shore opens up the ferries will be a very empty place....................... money talks

[Political Incorrectness]

how

[Doug]

Doubt it, they're two different industries.

[Balfour]

How exactly does off shore oil impact the employees of BCF.

[Engineer]

qsandwich said:

How exactly does off shore oil impact the employees of BCF.

All offshore use tug boats, suppy ships etc
All need certified engineering and deck tickets to run them

[cascade]

The way that you - Engineer - are talking about the lack of younger blood coming in and the lost of skilled - ticketed people - this is what happen in Europe in the mid to late 80's. A lot of the companies actually closed down routes due to the lack of skilled - certified people - even they could not at that time get in "cheap" skilled labour from other parts of Europe. We had "work permit" problems.

I am also concerned about the possible Pension "black hole" inside BCFS - for people that have over 30 years in. In the early 70's they - BCFS - really did ramp up on the staff figures - well those people will be coming up to retirement age.

Norway was a very poor country - until they got in the Oil - now it is one of the riches in Europe. There is no Government sub for the transport network - and they do have a massive fleet of buses and boats - over 150 ferry type vessels working in a country about 1/2 the size of BC - but with the same pop figure 4.2 in BC vs 4.5 in Norway.
Norway made it's money on servicing the North Sea Oil - the country owned a few small blocks - but the money came from the seamanship and knowledge of boat building and crews. All very highly trained - so what "Engineer" is saying makes sense and is a real concern to BCFS - money does talk and people do walk.

[Retrovision]

*News Flash*
Here are the results of last night's provincial election in B.C.:

Overall Election Results
Party Elected Leading Total Vote Share
LIB 45 1 46 46.03%
NDP 33 0 33 41.27%
GRN 0 0 0 9.11%

(LIB = Liberal Party of B.C.
NDP = New Democratic Party of B.C.
GRN = Green Party of B.C.)

Last Update: May 18, 12:50:23 AM PDT 79 seats

[Retrovision]

That should actually look more like this:

Overall Election Results
Party Elected Leading Total Vote Share
LIB-----45--------1--------46-----46.03%
NDP----33--------0--------33-----41.27%
GRN-----0--------0---------0--------9.11%

[Retrovision]

Grr.. that didn't work entirely how I wanted it too.. oh well, you get the picture. just separate the category names in your mind.