Editorial: B.C. Ferries contract is short-sighted
In a staggering display of short-sighted ignorance, B.C. Ferries has awarded a multi-billion-dollar contract for four major vessels to a state-owned firm in China.
The minister responsible, Mike Farnworth, did his best to explain the deal by noting that building the ships in Europe would cost an additional $1.2 billion. That said, he then retreated behind the stale line that “B.C. Ferries is an independent company responsible for its own operational decisions.”
In fact, B.C. Ferries is, in everything but name, a wholly owned Crown corporation. The business is nominally owned by the B.C. Ferry Company, but the province holds the only voting share. And the majority of board members are appointed by the province, while the chair, Joy MacPhail, is a former NDP cabinet minister and deputy premier.
So this is not some arm’s-length decision that the minister and his cabinet colleagues can disown. It could only have been made with the full knowledge and support of the........
© Times Colonist
