VICTORIA, B.C. – The B.C. Green Caucus welcomes the announcement today of increased ferry service on 13 routes and the release of the Redlin Coastal Ferry Service Review. Ferry services are essential to the health and wellbeing of British Columbians.
“I am thrilled to see service increases benefiting British Columbia’s small coastal communities,” said Adam Olsen, B.C. Green spokesperson for transportation and MLA for Saanich North and the Islands. “Ferries are a critical piece of infrastructure: they connect people to the services they rely on, are integral to economic infrastructure, and showcase our beautiful coast.
“I’ve consistently heard from island communities that they need more reliable, affordable and efficient ferry options to connect them with work, school, and healthcare. It’s good to see that more communities will now have increased access.”
Government also release its long anticipated coastal ferry service review today. This review, undertaken by special advisor Blair Redlin, was tasked with ensuring that coastal ferry services in B.C. are operating in the public interest.
“The Redlin report recommends, among other things, to incorporate CleanBC into their operations, to aim for better service reliability, and to ensure the public interest is defined and protected. All steps that take us in the right direction.
“Since B.C. Ferries is a private corporation, it is not required to implement these changes. My colleagues and I find this deeply concerning and continue to reiterate that B.C. Ferries would be able to best serve the public interest if it were brought back into government as a Crown Corporation.”
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