20 BCBusiness dECEMBER/JAnuARy 2018
were buying new assets—the cov-
erage of those costs was borne
by the fare box. We applied to
our independent commissioner
for permission to increase fares
to cover those increased operat-
ing costs, because there really is
no other source.
In its review of bC Ferries, do
you think the government will
propose big changes to the
business model?
We'll have to wait and see. Our
board of directors has commu-
nicated with the [transportation]
minister that we're ready and
willing to work with the new
government. We understand
they have questions, and we're
standing by to answer them.
The new government is com-
ing from a di•erent place, and
a•ordability is a big objective,
and so we've already said to
them, "Yes, there's ways we can
do that." We see our mandate
as protecting the interests of
fare-payers, and so we will
be discussing with them any
initiatives that we think impact
the sustainability of the ferry
system in a way that would
be disadvantageous for the
fare-payer.
How realistic is it to expect
that bC Ferries can build all of
its vessels in this province?
It's totally realistic, but the
shipbuilding industry needs to
provide competitive proposals.
We would love to build in B.C.,
but not at any price. If the price
to build in Canada gets too high,
then you have fare-payers, a
relatively small segment of the
population, subsidizing the
shipbuilding industry.
How do you plan to keep
the business viable for the
long term?
We're very busy honing our
community engagement
process. Sometimes there's an
impression that we make deci-
sions which ignore communities.
In fact, we don't do that, but I
know why people perceive it that
way. So we're trying to improve
our practice of reaching out to
the communities and making
them part of our decision-making
process.
Also, you've got to look at our
environmental program and
say that being environmentally
sustainable is important. The
public expectation now is that we
will not operate at the expense of
the planet.
Finally, you've got to be
‰nancially sustainable, or you're
not going to exist. So we have to
‰nd ways to become ever more
eŠcient. We also have to explain
our model to the public so they
understand why support for
the ferry system is important if
they wish it to be around for our
grandchildren and beyond.
This interview has been edited
and condensed
sOuRCE: BC FERRiEs
21 million
Passengers carried
by bc Ferries' 34
vessels on their
172,000-plus sail-
ings during the 2017
fiscal year
99.69%
Fleet reli-
ability, or
sailings promised
versus delivered,
in fiscal 2017, an
improvement of
almost 1,000 sail-
ings a year from
fiscal 2004
$1.4 billion
bc Ferries' total
spending on ship-
building
and ship
repair in
b.c. since
2003
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