Re: “Ferry workers could strike before month’s end.”
The Kootenay Lake Ferry is an essential service.
The Salmo-Creston pass is not an alternative route for service related transportation, adding several hours to travel time and unreliability due to danger and frequent closures for avalanche hazard, weather, fires and accidents. Its location bypasses the East and West Shore communities of Kootenay Lake.
For East Shore residents, the Kootenay Lake Ferry, on a daily basis, facilitates: ambulance, emergency fire service, evacuation, doctors for the clinic at Crawford Bay, access to chemotherapy, surgery, CAT scans, MRI etc., hospital facilities, doctors, dentists, physio, etc., plus medication purchase, daily travel for employment, teachers for the school at Crawford Bay, student travel for high school and college, mail, maintenance of internet, power and telephone services, supplies of food, building materials, vehicle parts etc., which allow for services and businesses to operate and provide services and employment and for customers for businesses providing jobs for a sustainable economy on both sides of the lake.
Shirley Wyngaard
East Shore