Wednesday, November 27, 2013

NDP weigh in with rebuke of Ferry plans by Government

“These drastic cuts to B.C. Ferries show the B.C. Liberals just don’t understand how critical ferry services are to people living on the North and Central Coast and Haida Gwaii,” -- NDP North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice, outlining her concerns over the recent announcement on Ferry service reductions.

The NDP has offered up a stinging rebuke of the provincial government's plan for BC Ferries, highlighting a theme that the government does not understand the critical nature of the ferry service to the North Coast and Haida Gwaii.

North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice outlined a number of the NDP's concerns regarding those changes, highlighting the interest that the announcement has raised in communities beyond those on the coast.

She also brought attention to the impact that she believes the cancellations and cut backs will have on already struggling coastal and rural communities, leaving those communities "to bear the brunt of what she calls the Liberal's failure to create a long term sustainable plan"

The complete listing of NDP talking points on the ferry service announcement can be found from the NDP's website.

Some of the NDP MLA's thoughts echo the commentary of the BC Ferries Advisory Committee, (a group that she served with as a municipal councillor) which has also been quick to find much to dislike about the Government's announcement of last week.

They reiterated their recent observations on the state of the Ferry system with a media release on Friday, highlighting that they believe the plan as drawn up by Transportation Minister Todd Stone is based on numbers that don't add up to a solution.

Residents of the North Coast and Haida Gwaii can offer up their thoughts next week, as we outlined on the blog yesterday, a number of public forums have been organized for Haida Gwaii and Prince Rupert for comment on the plans as laid out by the province last week.

You can learn more about those public forums here.

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