A new layer of uncertainty has been added to BC Ferries’ deal with China, after an angry federal transport minister lashed out at the ferry corporation and the B.C. government over the shipbuilding contract.

Chrystia Freeland said she feels “great consternation and disappointment” that BC Ferries selected state-owned Chinese shipyard CMI Weihai to build its four major new vessels, at a time when China is levelling unfair tariffs against Canada and the federal government is trying to promote the national shipbuilding sector.

“I am dismayed that BC Ferries would select a Chinese state-owned shipyard to build new ferries in the current geopolitical context, and I ask that you verify and confirm with utmost certainty that no federal funding will be diverted to support the acquisition of these new ferries,” Freeland wrote in a letter to B.C. Transportation Minister Mike Farnworth.

She said none of the $37.8 million annual subsidies from Ottawa, $308 million post-COVID funding or loans from the Canada Infrastructure Bank are allowed to go to the Chinese deal.

The B.C. government at first tried to........

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