BC NDP

VICTORIA – An independent report released Friday has found that since the Liberals privatized B.C. Ferries, the corporation has lost accountability, costs have increased, and executive pay has skyrocketed to unprecedented levels, the New Democrats said today.

“This report clearly spells out what New Democrats have been saying all along,” said New Democrat deputy transportation critic Gary Coons. “Costs have skyrocketed but instead of protecting the public interest, the B.C. Liberals have sat by as their hand-picked ferries board award themselves pay raise after pay raise.”

The Report on Review of Transportation Governance Models commissioned by the finance ministry and carried out by the Comptroller General, said B.C. Ferries Services’ “executive compensation was significantly higher than that paid by several larger public sector entities.”

“Directors remuneration was also higher than public sector organizations we compared against.”

The report clearly demonstrates the lack of accountability to the B.C. government, the sole shareholder, “Our concerns regarding BCFS compensation are compounded by the fact the BCFS board sets its own compensation and approves the executive compensation without accountability to the independent authority (shareholder). “

“When the B.C. Liberals privatized ferries, they removed any public oversight or accountability. The result has been higher prices and reduced service,” said Coons.

“In order to make B.C. Ferries more accountable, the report backs the New Democrats’ call for the B.C. Liberals to make our ferries subject to the Freedom of Information Act.”

The report also says the ferry commission, which regulates fares, should be expected “to focus as well on the sustainability of the coastal ferry system, balancing the financial sustainability of the system with the needs of customers, the operators and the communities.”

“The B.C. Liberals cannot continue to abandon coastal communities that depend on our ferries as the marine highway,” said Coons. “New Democrats will continue to hold the B.C. Liberals to account for skyrocketing fares and reductions in ferry service.”

Under the Liberal government, B.C. has had the worst rate of full-time job losses, the second-worst performing economy, and highest level of child poverty in the country.