Dear Mr. Eby,
I live in Glade, a small community of around 300 people in the West Kootenays, accessible only by ferry. Up until Gordon Cambell got elected in 2001, our ferry was operated by the Government of B.C. They always did a good job.
Campbell and his Transport minister Judith Reid threatened to put tolls on our ferry and to privatize the service. We fought hard against that decision. In the end, the government decided against imposing tolls, but they still went ahead and contracted
out the operation of inland ferries.
So now, King Charles still owns the ferries, but the operation of them is contracted out. The contractor on the Arrow Lakes has settled with their employees, but the contractor on the Kootenay Lake side refuses to provide the same contract to their employees. You cannot expect the workers on our ferry to accept a poorer contract.
This ferry strike is already forcing many people to drive over one of the most precarious passes in B.C., in the winter! As far as I know, no one has died while doing so yet, but it is only a matter of time. We have just received notice that our ferry will be sailing only 16 times daily starting Jan. 3. This schedule will put everyone in our community out of work
unless everyone launches a boat to cross the river. We have many older residents who may be at risk due to lack of or very slow access to medical care. It is a tragedy in the making.
Our contractor is not fulfilling the obligations that they accepted when they signed the contract.They are pledging to pay the operators only for trips taken. The government should cancel their contract and run the service themselves. I reckon the cost of running our little ferry has at least tripled since we let in the middlemen. The NDP fancies itself a socialist party so why are we still paying the privatization premium for most of our public services?
Rod Retzlaff
Glade