Re: “NDP promises to freeze fares on major B.C. ferry routes,” April 14.
We are all used to hearing the strangest promises from politicians at election time. I have not made up my mind about my vote. But the one thing I sure do is to verify facts and find out which promises are based on objective realities.
The NDP announcement (promise) about B.C. Ferries fares shows it does not have a clue how the corporation works. Fares on small routes are highly subsidized already. To “cut” rates, it only means the money required to run them is going to come from all taxpayers’ pockets.
Also, freezing fares on major routes, the only ones that provide B.C. Ferries with positive cash flow, means that expensive capital investment will have to be cancelled, delayed or, you guessed it, paid for by all taxpayers in B.C.
How do I know this? All the numbers are available in the B.C. Ferries annual reports to the B.C. Ferry Commissioner, which is, by the way, the one that sets the fare conditions, in theory, arms-length away from politicians.
If this were a school project, I would have to give the NDP an “F” in its research. Let us hope the other topics being discussed in the election will be based on better facts.
Daniel Sanchez
Victoria
