BC Ferries losing money

[steven lloyd]

Just for reference, I checked the option for a trip to the island with my trailer in tow. The cost would stop me dead. Black ball is actually more expensive...

My wife and I one time considered catching the Ferry in Prince Rupert and then doing a road trip down the Island and again across to Vancouver. Without even calculating the inland road trip home the costs of the one way trip down were well above return trip airfare for two and a renting a medium size car (eg. Acura) for a couple of days in Vancouver.

[Captain Awesome]

Places like Hornby island used be hard to get to, with weekly ferry service. It appears to be steady service there now. If you ran it as a business, a lot of the smaller routes would just plain be dropped or maybe once a week. My guess is that politically that would be tough, but the service levels to the remoter parts and small population centers just never were feasible. The ferries have to run with higher passenger loads, and the only way to get that with these "service" routes is to chop them back.

That sounds reasonable. I suspect majority of money BC Ferries make are on 20% of their routes. And all others are money losing propositions.

[steven lloyd]

That sounds reasonable.

Ditto that. Ditto this ...

Way past time to get the ferry operations back to the basics as just part of our basic highways/roads system ...

[Roadster]

We dont charge for reserving or not reserving on our roads and that is exactly what these boats are supposed to be about,,, not money grabbing for rights on this Road (boat). They already know how to make money off the tourists and people wanting to eat,,, feed them for a price and sell souviniers. They could maybe run a movie somewhere on the boat if the trip is long enough, for a fee,,, who knows but in the end people dont mind paying for something they are getting back when it comes to Extras. Make your stores more interesting if they werent bringing in the extra cash.
Sell for better prices if stuff wasnt moving. We all know prices are high in airports and services like this just because they can so people arent as interested. They get that "wait till we get there then we will spend" mode just because its known stuff costs ten fold around travel services areas. A store is a store is a store, when I had mine I found some really cool prices which allowed me to sell stuff to my customers at "fair to them" prices. I bought a huge supply a few times of sweats and hoodies with my little towns name on them which had never been done before. Freaky watching the locals buy up most of those after word got out cos they never even seen a spoon with the little towns name on it. My prices were good, its a shirt for crying out loud. I dont get why a boat could sell one, same material, different pic on it for more then twice the price I charged. You buy up wisely and sell wisely and stuff moves... Yer not breaking anyone and they dont mind going in and paying for it. People should want yer stuff.
So the boats have stores manned, no one is buying and the boss man figures he needs a money grab like reservations. Ever check the price of meal on those boats, airports? Wow, ya gotta be rich or stupid or both to eat like that.
I went in the bar in the airport in Vancouver once and thinking I am just starting this trip, gonna spend carefully at first,,, I just ordered a coke,,, 4.50??? For a coke? I choked that sucker down and licked the glass out to get my moneys worth,, And then the server needs a tip too,,, And I didnt even get high from it,,, wrong kinda coke they advertise me thinks.
Should be a coupla bucks for that coke and then add price if someone wants booze in it. That was about 15 years ago, whats a coke cost now? Its time these service systems rethink their mode of money making. Ever see something in a sale bin in them stores? No cos they buy in little quantities, sell it for gold and wait forever for some sucker to buy it while they spend time dusting it off. Move it, make your money but remember it isnt that precious to anyone.
Having owned a store with prit near everything in it on a highway and seeing these boat stores and their mode of business just makes ya know where they are going wrong. Oh and red curtains and plush carpeting isnt gonna make people pay more, its a boat for moving traffic, there are cruise ships for that thinking.

[steven lloyd]

Oh and red curtains and plush carpeting isnt gonna make people pay more, its a boat for moving traffic, there are cruise ships for that thinking.

I have to agree. People who want to go on a cruise will go on a cruise and pay for it. The BC Ferries system is, or at least should be part of our highway system - publicly owned and operated and completely accountable to the public (not some trough-feeding cronies using their term in government to benefit a few private sector friends - 'free' enterprise party my ass).

[zookeeper]

So I've read the ferry thread, I see that a bridge, for many reasons may not be viable (short of the Kamloops one perhaps). One word I noticed a lot was "vacation", many people frequent the ferry system for other reasons. Also, not everyone "chooses" to live on the Island, we live on the mainland and need access to the Island frequently, as do I'm sure stock trucks etc. We have had 3 sailing waits only to be packed on so full that we were almost sure we were to fall off the edge, and have been on ferries so empty a football game could have been hosted in the underbelly. The coast saver program (designed to fill emptier sailings), while nice, doesn't do the trick. The Tsawwassen to Duke Point ferry was designed to lessen traffic through the heart of Nanaimo, yet in our experience we found when the when the Tsawwassen terminal was closed the added sailings to Horseshoe ran as smoothly as we had seen them in a long time. Imo, a good look and readjustment of sailing times (reduction of emptier ones) is a great idea (all will get used to it). Reservations are not always possible because when on business one doesn't always know when they can reach a terminal (traffic and construction on the mainland doesn't help either), and again then frequent users end up paying more for a system (highway) they need for something other than pleasure. My idea would be a system the frequent travelers have on the tolled causeways in the U.S., a slightly discounted monthly (yearly) pass that can be detected at a drive-thru, no wait frequent traveler lane. Again, in my opinion, even if it is through some sort of application process, the people who NEED the ferry should have some sort of precedence over vacationers and tourists. Comments?

[logicalview]

Oh and red curtains and plush carpeting isnt gonna make people pay more, its a boat for moving traffic, there are cruise ships for that thinking.

I have to agree. People who want to go on a cruise will go on a cruise and pay for it. The BC Ferries system is, or at least should be part of our highway system - publicly owned and operated and completely accountable to the public (not some trough-feeding cronies using their term in government to benefit a few private sector friends - 'free' enterprise party my ass).

Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo - 1 way - Car and 3 people $97

That's $21.55 an hour per person.



A 10 night Princess Cruises - Vancouver to Alaska Cruise $1698

That's $7.08 an hour per person.



Princess Cruises to Alaska = $1698
Take a BC Ferry = $5,172

The BC Ferries are just a trojan horse to extort money from the serfs into the hands of the Liberals and Christy Clarks pantry.

[maple leaf]

Friday, December 10, 2010
Christy Clark Spins and Lies on her Radio Program, the BC Ferries Saga Unwound!



 In 2001 Gordon Campbell took power in BC.....He immediately announced a massive cut in corporate taxes and income taxes, Gordon Campbell quickly squandered the $1.6 billion dollar surplus the ndp Government left him...


The surplus was gone, the deficit for Campbell`s first year turned negative by $2 billion dollars, in 2003 Campbell ran deficits again....Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark then proceeded to break their election promise and sell BC Rail to Gordon Campbell`s election campaign financer David Mclean.......That deal still stinks today, Campbell corrupted the court and shut down the legal process at a cost of 10s of $millions, and for that money we didn`t get one questioned answered.  Christy Clark, her brother, her husband, now ex-husband were up to their eye balls in the BC Rail theft...


So now the Province got paid some money from CN rail on the  giveaway, but it wasn`t enough money, the BC Government was still running massive deficits, where could Christy Clark and Gordon Campbell get more money for general revenue?.....Cue up the privatization of BC Ferries...


What Gordon Campbell did, with Christy Clark as deputy premier, as part of cabinet, as education minister.....What Campbell and his minions did was....The created a quazi private corporation, Gordon Campbell took all BC Ferries corporate debt and took it off of BC Ferries balance sheet and put the debt in the Province`s tally sheet(added it to our Provincial debt)....


And it`s then that the tricky wheeling and dealing and corruption took place.....I will let Debra Marshall from BC Ferries tell you what happened on April/2/2003.....The below is a letter that Debra Marshall of BC Ferries provided me.
____________________________________________________________________________________________

 Here is the complete letter from Debra Marshall at BC Ferries sent to me.

" The government used to own the controlling interest in BC Ferries, which had a book value of $503,178,000.

On April 2,2003, the government issued BC Ferries a debenture for $427,701,000, which BC Ferries promised to pay in cash.

In addition,at that time,the government was issued 75,477 non-voting preferred shares in BC Ferries,valued at $1000 per share.

On may 27,2004, BC Ferries paid the debenture of $427,701,000 to the government.BC Ferries had also paid the government interest on the debenture of $25,879,191.49.

For the government`s preferred shares, BC Ferries pays an 8% dividend per year of $6,038,160. We`ve paid that annually for six years for a total of $36,228,960.

In summary,BC Ferries has paid the province $489,809,000."
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
So there are the facts on what was done to BC Ferries....Let me fill in the blanks...Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark had two motives, one was to remove BC Ferries from freedom of information, that had to be done to avoid the hard questions and disturbing answers that would be forthcoming.....Also, Gordon Campbell needed money to claim a balanced budget, he had some CN rail money but he needed more....So the Campbell Gang created a quazi corporation, he eliminated BCFerries debt, then the Campbell Government issued a debenture to BC Ferries, ....BC Ferries, with a now debt free balance sheet, with all the assets of the ferry corporation, took the debenture(a debenture is a promisary note, in other words the Province of BC guaranteed to repay any debt they assumed and the debenture was the promisary note)
BC Ferries took the debenture and did two things, they borrowed money from German banks, it was a two way deal, BC Ferries borrowed money from German banks to which they would buy German built ferries, but there was more...BC Ferries also borrowed $489,809,000.00....BC Ferries borrowed over and above the price of the new ferries $489 million dollars which Gordon Campbell put into general revenue ...The reason, Campbell was starved for money and he wanted to claim a balanced budget....But what Campbell and his Government did was(in my opinion) illegal....Campbell lied and sold BC Rail to boost general revenue, and Campbell used the so-called privatization of BC Ferries to gather up more money for general revenue.....Tricky books indeed that Christy Clark was fully aware of as deputy premier.

And the pattern with the BC Liberals is consistant, BC Rail sold for cash, BC Ferries privatized for the sole reason of using it as an ATM machine for a bankrupt province....The Federal Government with the $1.6 billion dollar hst bribe...The $760 million taken from ICBC for general revenue this year.....Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark know exactly what they have done, Christy Clark in a moment of clarity ran for the hills and running water in an attempt to cleanse her dirty hands....And it wasn`t until Gordon Campbell, Mike De Jong, and all BC Liberals shut down the BC Rail corruption trial that Christy Clark, the political quitter and opportunist  crawled out of the woodwork and is running for leader, running to appease her bloated ego....


So meanwhile, BC ferries couldn`t be FOI-ed....The new German ferries were sitting idle, they burn more fuel, carry less passengers, they rattle and to this day the old BC ferries fleet, the queens of Oak Bay,Coquitlam, Surrey,Comox etc etc get the lion`s share of the work while the German queens are on emergency standby....


So anyway, I got interested in the finances of BC Ferries, they now have a $1.6 billion dollar debt, in 2008 under David Hahn`s control BC Ferries made $37 million dollars for the year, in 2009 BC Ferries made a measly $9 million dollars, barely enough to pay the interest payments on their massive debt......So I started this blog, I started writing stories, factual stories about the financial disaster known as BC Ferries....Then last year...The comptroller General came out with a report and it was revealed that David Hahn was being paid over $1 million dollars in pay per year, the public was flipping out, David Hahn the highest paid public servant running a quazi private, but sortta  Government  ferry company with no competition.....The people were upset...Very very upset.


So on November 10/2009...12:30pm to 1:00pm...Christy Clark on her radio show came out swinging in defence of David Hahn and his salary, and as I listened to Christy Clark lie, spin, con, I emailed her that she was wrong, when she opened up the phone lines I called in to confront her, she talked over me, she discounted my claims, she rattled off  the most ridiculous numbers....After her show that day I sent Christy Clark stories from me, from the Hook at the Tyee, stories about BC Ferries massive debt, I asked her nicely to retract, she ignored me hoping I would go away...I wasn`t going anywhere, I warned her I was making a formal complaint to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council(CBSC)...Christy mocked me and laughed....


Now before we go any further...Let me take you back to November 10/2009...12:30pm to 1:00pm  Here is what Christy Clark said on radio...


The Christy Clark show ....The transcript.....Christy Clark`s words...


Clark  "How much of a difference has his leadership made at BC Ferries? It`s a company that now delivers a half a billion dollars in profit back to you and I !{sic} the taxpayers  and don`t forget, we didn`t start making this  profit until after David Hahn took over and started cleaning it up.  So how much is that worth to you? And to me, the people who pay taxes in this Province? Yes, we could cut David Hahn`s pay. We could save the corporation maybe a hundred, two hundred, maybe three hundred grand a year.  And then when he leaves and is replaced by somebody who`s willing to work for less, how much profit will there be left for the taxpayer to garner? Would we be earning four hundred million instead of five? Three hundred million insted of five? Maybe we`d be earning the same amount. The fact is no one knows. But are you willing to take that risk? Are you willing to risk hundreds of millions in profits to save perhaps a couple of hundred thousand dollars in salary? 
The fact is that leadership really does matter. And in the case of BCFerries, it`s pretty easy to argue David Hahn`s leadership in particular has made a very, very big difference. Is he overpaid? I don`t know. I `m not really sure what the job is worth. But I do know that five hundred million dollars in profit back to you and I {sic} the taxpayer, is a pretty good deal.
What do you think...604-280-9898...*9898 on your cell.


And then I was first caller up....."Hi Brian"


Brian..Hi Christy, you know, I don`t know where you get your facts from, but you know BC Ferries has a $1.4 billion dollar capital debt. In the last fiscal reported quarter, April, May and june of this year, they didn`t even make enough money to cover their operating expenses and interest payments, which is fifty million dollar per year on their capital debt. Plus the Province subsidizes BC Ferries to the tune of almost two hundred million dollars a year. Where do you get this $500 million dollar profit amount from?


Clark--They, they return that to the taxpayer. It is on, you can find it in public accounts.

Brian--Yea, well, I suggest that you do a little more scanning and talk to Gary Coons, uh the, ferry critic....Because BC Ferries is in, is right now, is in a financial disaster.uh!

Clark-but they don`t have a fi, they don`t have a capital debt, though. Brian, because

Brian--Yes they do!..$1.4 billion dollars!

Clark-No, hold on, hold on, listen, listen, listen! listen. They don`t have a capital debt. though, because of David Hahn. They have a capital debt largely because we spent so much money on the fast ferries that there was no money left over to actually look after the ferries that were going to work in british Columbia. They had to build new ferries.

Brian--No, your wrong on that. Christy, because when Hahn took over, all the debt that BC Ferries had was retired by the Province. Hahn came in there was a clean slate. And this $1.4 billion dollar debt has been gathered up since Hahn has been at the-

Clark-But he, but, Brian, my point is he came in with BC Ferries that were, a fleet that was, in such a bad state of dis-repair, I mean, some of the ferries were, I think, thirty or forty years old

Brian-Christy-

Clark-They had to be upgraded

Brian-No, no no

Clark-and there was no money to do it because it had been misspent in previous years. That money for the fast ferries should have gone into upgrading the fleet over those years.

Brian--Christy, I have been riding the ferries for thirty years. The, the Langdale run, the island, there are no more sailings than there ever was {sic} The schedule`s been the same for three decades on the Sunshine coast. Uh, they sunk a ferry under Hahn...The fast ferries were a bad design and, and is at issue, but, that the fast ferries had nothing to do with  maintenance of the fleet-

Clark-YES!

Brian-Or money taken away from ferries-

Clark-Of course it did!

Brian-No it didn`t!

Clark-Of course it did, all those years-

Brian-Look at the convention center--

Clark-All of, oh, come on! Leave the convention center out of this! That`s, that`s crazy. The money that went into the fast ferries was diverted from BC Ferries budget and it shoud have gone into replacing the ancient archaic, old fleet. And it didn`t! That`s why there`s a capital debt at BC ferries. Make no doubt. There is absolutely no doubt about that. The convention center doesn`t have a whole lot to do with that Brian.
____________________________________________________________________________________________

And with that the conversation and Christy liefest ended.....Now let me add a few points, after her show I sent Christy the financial`s for BC Ferries, PDF files, BC Ferries annual audits, I sent her a dozen stories and asked her to retract, she ignored me and I warned her that I was filing a complaint to the CBSC...And I did....And...

____________________________________________________________________________________________

And on November 26/2009 at 2:57 PM Christy Clark retracted, sort of....Christy Clark clarified and said, on air..

Clark said- 





"On november 10...I noted that ferries delivered 1/2 a billion $dollars in profit to the province,that`s not accurate it to call it profit,that`s not the way they book it,but according to Debra Marshall 489,809,000, was returned to the province" 
 ___________________________________________________________________________________________

There was the retraction....Christy  Clark clarified that the money amounts she mentioned on November 10 was wrong, it wasn`t profit,.....Gotcha Christy Clark...And for those paying attention, Christy Clark in her retraction used the exact same dollar amount as in the letter from Debra Marshall(BC Ferries spokeswoman)  posted above, and clearly, Debra Marshall admits that the money that was paid to the Province was not profit but was borrowed money handed over to the Campbell gang....And from everything I read, that money went into general revenue to prop up the budget numbers,....... and also so Campbell could claim a balanced budget in the 2005 election campaign.....Deception, fraud, guile, and that`s why it was priority for Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark to keep BC Ferries sheilded from scrutiny and from freedom of information.

Now friends, I need to clarify, there are two levels of complaints at the CBSC..Level 1 and level 2...My complaint to the CBSC council was resolved in level one...I didn`t want to pursue it any further, I got my retraction.

So lets examine a couple of items, Christy Clark was deputy Premier when BC Ferries was turned into a quazi private corporation, Christy Clark was deputy Premier when the Debenture was issued to BC ferries, Christy Clark voted to keep BC ferries free from FOI requests....Chrisy Clark knew(in my opinion) that everything she was saying on air about BC Ferries was a lie!!!!!


For example, how could BC Ferries return $500 million in profit to BC when they get a $180 million dollar yearly subsidy...Second, no ferries set sail until they are certified, it is illegal to have a ferry in service that hasn`t been certified for public transport by the authority....So Christy`s claim that the old fleet was in disrepair was a lie, especially when the same old fleet gets the lion`s share of the work TODAY while the new German ferries sit tied to the dock!
And it was under David Hahn that a ferry rammed the dock at horseshoe bay, it was under David Hahn that the Queen of the north hit Gill island and sunk to the bottom...And lastly, I mentioned the convention center on Christy`s show because...Christy claimed the fast ferries boondoggle took money away from the BC ferry fleet...Can`t the same thing be said of the $500 million dollar cost overrun on the Convention center, the cost overrun of $400 million on the golden ears bridge, $1 billion over budget on the Canada line, doesn`t all of those cost overruns take away from health, from education, from ferries, from the didabled, what is the $900 million dollar retractable  roof taking away from Government coffers, from the mentally handicapped, from the autistic, what do cost overruns take away from all ministries?


So folks, Christy Clark in cahoots with Gordon Campbell when she was deputy premier managed to privatize BC Ferries, shield ferries from FOI requests and steal BC Rail  from the public and gift it to David Mclean and CN Rail....
And it was then friends after I forced Christy Clark to retract on air that Nick Ozinsky(He runs the controls at cknw) and Christy Clark banned me from her show, when I called in to cknw when they were giving Olympic tickets away, when I won, Nick Ozinsky, with Christy Clark screaming in the background told me to "*bleep* off" and never call them again, and it wasn`t until I contacted Tom Plasteras(program manager for cknw) and told him the story did I get my prize, but I did not get Olympic tickets, I heard through my sources that Christy clark was stomping her feet and freaking out over Tom Plasteras honoring the contest and my Olympic tickets....Well, we know what happened next, I got tickets to see Don Rickles at the River Rock casino in May of 2010 and not tickets to the opening night at Molson Hockey house...Christy Clark got her small vindictive victory, .....So be it, I will win the war Christy!


So lastly, Sean Holman had posted an article that no complaints were made against Christy Clark at the CBSC, that is completely false, the CBSC hold newcasts in different regard than opinion talk shows...In other words folks, talk radio hosts can get away with mis-information, it`s almost impossible to prove that a radio talk show host is deliberately lying, so as for Sean Holman`s assertion that there are no complaints, he must be talking about level 2 complaints and has failed to find out how many complaints were REGISTERED against Christy Clark, regardless of that outcome, perhaps that information isn`t available, although I doubt it because they kept my complaint on file!....Take a look at Christy`s retraction, vague, she admitted there was no profit delivered to the people or Province, I got my remedy and didn`t pursue the complaint any further(level 2)....I received the complete transcript today for Christy`s radio show...The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council sent me the transcript today with all the dirty details!...From a Solange Courteau...Communications coordinator at CBSC....In fact friends, the CBSC did a little of their own research on BC Ferries and this is what the CBSC secretariat said about BC Ferries in their hard copy they sent me..


CBSC-...This is wild stuff folks....Here is what they said..The CBSC secretariat`s cursory research reveals that BC Ferries has a rather convoluted financing structure. BC Ferries is technically a private company , but the Provincial crown(through the BC Ferry authority) holds the single voting share in the company, In addition, the Government hold the non-voting preferred shares in the company, provides subsidies in the form of service fees to BC Ferries and holds a debenture against the company`s assets. snip

Even the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council calls the BC Ferries financial arrangement.."CONVOLUTED"


But....What makes the Christy Clark lie so much more offensive is.....There was no profit anywhere near that amount, BCFerries from 2004 to 2010 combined all years did not make anywhere near $500 million dollars! And..


Chrisy Clark was deputy Premier to gordon Campbell when the debenture was issued to BC ferries, Christy Clark was deputy premier when BC Ferries was removed from freedom of information requests, Christy clark, her brother, her ex-husband were all there for the BC Rail fraud...Christy is up to her eyeballs in dirty corrupt Campbell Government deals to insiders!

Believe me friends, Christy Ckuck Cluck Clark is no new Sensation, stale bread with a pasted smile!

 
 The Straight goods

[logicalview]

Friday, December 10, 2010
Christy Clark Spins and Lies on her Radio Program, the BC Ferries Saga Unwound!



 In 2001 Gordon Campbell took power in BC.....He immediately announced a massive cut in corporate taxes and income taxes, Gordon Campbell quickly squandered the $1.6 billion dollar surplus the ndp Government left him...


The surplus was gone, the deficit for Campbell`s first year turned negative by $2 billion dollars, in 2003 Campbell ran deficits again....Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark then proceeded to break their election promise and sell BC Rail to Gordon Campbell`s election campaign financer David Mclean.......That deal still stinks today, Campbell corrupted the court and shut down the legal process at a cost of 10s of $millions, and for that money we didn`t get one questioned answered.  Christy Clark, her brother, her husband, now ex-husband were up to their eye balls in the BC Rail theft...


So now the Province got paid some money from CN rail on the  giveaway, but it wasn`t enough money, the BC Government was still running massive deficits, where could Christy Clark and Gordon Campbell get more money for general revenue?.....Cue up the privatization of BC Ferries...


What Gordon Campbell did, with Christy Clark as deputy premier, as part of cabinet, as education minister.....What Campbell and his minions did was....The created a quazi private corporation, Gordon Campbell took all BC Ferries corporate debt and took it off of BC Ferries balance sheet and put the debt in the Province`s tally sheet(added it to our Provincial debt)....


And it`s then that the tricky wheeling and dealing and corruption took place.....I will let Debra Marshall from BC Ferries tell you what happened on April/2/2003.....The below is a letter that Debra Marshall of BC Ferries provided me.
____________________________________________________________________________________________

 Here is the complete letter from Debra Marshall at BC Ferries sent to me.

" The government used to own the controlling interest in BC Ferries, which had a book value of $503,178,000.

On April 2,2003, the government issued BC Ferries a debenture for $427,701,000, which BC Ferries promised to pay in cash.

In addition,at that time,the government was issued 75,477 non-voting preferred shares in BC Ferries,valued at $1000 per share.

On may 27,2004, BC Ferries paid the debenture of $427,701,000 to the government.BC Ferries had also paid the government interest on the debenture of $25,879,191.49.

For the government`s preferred shares, BC Ferries pays an 8% dividend per year of $6,038,160. We`ve paid that annually for six years for a total of $36,228,960.

In summary,BC Ferries has paid the province $489,809,000."
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
So there are the facts on what was done to BC Ferries....Let me fill in the blanks...Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark had two motives, one was to remove BC Ferries from freedom of information, that had to be done to avoid the hard questions and disturbing answers that would be forthcoming.....Also, Gordon Campbell needed money to claim a balanced budget, he had some CN rail money but he needed more....So the Campbell Gang created a quazi corporation, he eliminated BCFerries debt, then the Campbell Government issued a debenture to BC Ferries, ....BC Ferries, with a now debt free balance sheet, with all the assets of the ferry corporation, took the debenture(a debenture is a promisary note, in other words the Province of BC guaranteed to repay any debt they assumed and the debenture was the promisary note)
BC Ferries took the debenture and did two things, they borrowed money from German banks, it was a two way deal, BC Ferries borrowed money from German banks to which they would buy German built ferries, but there was more...BC Ferries also borrowed $489,809,000.00....BC Ferries borrowed over and above the price of the new ferries $489 million dollars which Gordon Campbell put into general revenue ...The reason, Campbell was starved for money and he wanted to claim a balanced budget....But what Campbell and his Government did was(in my opinion) illegal....Campbell lied and sold BC Rail to boost general revenue, and Campbell used the so-called privatization of BC Ferries to gather up more money for general revenue.....Tricky books indeed that Christy Clark was fully aware of as deputy premier.

And the pattern with the BC Liberals is consistant, BC Rail sold for cash, BC Ferries privatized for the sole reason of using it as an ATM machine for a bankrupt province....The Federal Government with the $1.6 billion dollar hst bribe...The $760 million taken from ICBC for general revenue this year.....Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark know exactly what they have done, Christy Clark in a moment of clarity ran for the hills and running water in an attempt to cleanse her dirty hands....And it wasn`t until Gordon Campbell, Mike De Jong, and all BC Liberals shut down the BC Rail corruption trial that Christy Clark, the political quitter and opportunist  crawled out of the woodwork and is running for leader, running to appease her bloated ego....


So meanwhile, BC ferries couldn`t be FOI-ed....The new German ferries were sitting idle, they burn more fuel, carry less passengers, they rattle and to this day the old BC ferries fleet, the queens of Oak Bay,Coquitlam, Surrey,Comox etc etc get the lion`s share of the work while the German queens are on emergency standby....


So anyway, I got interested in the finances of BC Ferries, they now have a $1.6 billion dollar debt, in 2008 under David Hahn`s control BC Ferries made $37 million dollars for the year, in 2009 BC Ferries made a measly $9 million dollars, barely enough to pay the interest payments on their massive debt......So I started this blog, I started writing stories, factual stories about the financial disaster known as BC Ferries....Then last year...The comptroller General came out with a report and it was revealed that David Hahn was being paid over $1 million dollars in pay per year, the public was flipping out, David Hahn the highest paid public servant running a quazi private, but sortta  Government  ferry company with no competition.....The people were upset...Very very upset.


So on November 10/2009...12:30pm to 1:00pm...Christy Clark on her radio show came out swinging in defence of David Hahn and his salary, and as I listened to Christy Clark lie, spin, con, I emailed her that she was wrong, when she opened up the phone lines I called in to confront her, she talked over me, she discounted my claims, she rattled off  the most ridiculous numbers....After her show that day I sent Christy Clark stories from me, from the Hook at the Tyee, stories about BC Ferries massive debt, I asked her nicely to retract, she ignored me hoping I would go away...I wasn`t going anywhere, I warned her I was making a formal complaint to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council(CBSC)...Christy mocked me and laughed....


Now before we go any further...Let me take you back to November 10/2009...12:30pm to 1:00pm  Here is what Christy Clark said on radio...


The Christy Clark show ....The transcript.....Christy Clark`s words...


Clark  "How much of a difference has his leadership made at BC Ferries? It`s a company that now delivers a half a billion dollars in profit back to you and I !{sic} the taxpayers  and don`t forget, we didn`t start making this  profit until after David Hahn took over and started cleaning it up.  So how much is that worth to you? And to me, the people who pay taxes in this Province? Yes, we could cut David Hahn`s pay. We could save the corporation maybe a hundred, two hundred, maybe three hundred grand a year.  And then when he leaves and is replaced by somebody who`s willing to work for less, how much profit will there be left for the taxpayer to garner? Would we be earning four hundred million instead of five? Three hundred million insted of five? Maybe we`d be earning the same amount. The fact is no one knows. But are you willing to take that risk? Are you willing to risk hundreds of millions in profits to save perhaps a couple of hundred thousand dollars in salary? 
The fact is that leadership really does matter. And in the case of BCFerries, it`s pretty easy to argue David Hahn`s leadership in particular has made a very, very big difference. Is he overpaid? I don`t know. I `m not really sure what the job is worth. But I do know that five hundred million dollars in profit back to you and I {sic} the taxpayer, is a pretty good deal.
What do you think...604-280-9898...*9898 on your cell.


And then I was first caller up....."Hi Brian"


Brian..Hi Christy, you know, I don`t know where you get your facts from, but you know BC Ferries has a $1.4 billion dollar capital debt. In the last fiscal reported quarter, April, May and june of this year, they didn`t even make enough money to cover their operating expenses and interest payments, which is fifty million dollar per year on their capital debt. Plus the Province subsidizes BC Ferries to the tune of almost two hundred million dollars a year. Where do you get this $500 million dollar profit amount from?


Clark--They, they return that to the taxpayer. It is on, you can find it in public accounts.

Brian--Yea, well, I suggest that you do a little more scanning and talk to Gary Coons, uh the, ferry critic....Because BC Ferries is in, is right now, is in a financial disaster.uh!

Clark-but they don`t have a fi, they don`t have a capital debt, though. Brian, because

Brian--Yes they do!..$1.4 billion dollars!

Clark-No, hold on, hold on, listen, listen, listen! listen. They don`t have a capital debt. though, because of David Hahn. They have a capital debt largely because we spent so much money on the fast ferries that there was no money left over to actually look after the ferries that were going to work in british Columbia. They had to build new ferries.

Brian--No, your wrong on that. Christy, because when Hahn took over, all the debt that BC Ferries had was retired by the Province. Hahn came in there was a clean slate. And this $1.4 billion dollar debt has been gathered up since Hahn has been at the-

Clark-But he, but, Brian, my point is he came in with BC Ferries that were, a fleet that was, in such a bad state of dis-repair, I mean, some of the ferries were, I think, thirty or forty years old

Brian-Christy-

Clark-They had to be upgraded

Brian-No, no no

Clark-and there was no money to do it because it had been misspent in previous years. That money for the fast ferries should have gone into upgrading the fleet over those years.

Brian--Christy, I have been riding the ferries for thirty years. The, the Langdale run, the island, there are no more sailings than there ever was {sic} The schedule`s been the same for three decades on the Sunshine coast. Uh, they sunk a ferry under Hahn...The fast ferries were a bad design and, and is at issue, but, that the fast ferries had nothing to do with  maintenance of the fleet-

Clark-YES!

Brian-Or money taken away from ferries-

Clark-Of course it did!

Brian-No it didn`t!

Clark-Of course it did, all those years-

Brian-Look at the convention center--

Clark-All of, oh, come on! Leave the convention center out of this! That`s, that`s crazy. The money that went into the fast ferries was diverted from BC Ferries budget and it shoud have gone into replacing the ancient archaic, old fleet. And it didn`t! That`s why there`s a capital debt at BC ferries. Make no doubt. There is absolutely no doubt about that. The convention center doesn`t have a whole lot to do with that Brian.
____________________________________________________________________________________________

And with that the conversation and Christy liefest ended.....Now let me add a few points, after her show I sent Christy the financial`s for BC Ferries, PDF files, BC Ferries annual audits, I sent her a dozen stories and asked her to retract, she ignored me and I warned her that I was filing a complaint to the CBSC...And I did....And...

____________________________________________________________________________________________

And on November 26/2009 at 2:57 PM Christy Clark retracted, sort of....Christy Clark clarified and said, on air..

Clark said- 





"On november 10...I noted that ferries delivered 1/2 a billion $dollars in profit to the province,that`s not accurate it to call it profit,that`s not the way they book it,but according to Debra Marshall 489,809,000, was returned to the province" 
 ___________________________________________________________________________________________

There was the retraction....Christy  Clark clarified that the money amounts she mentioned on November 10 was wrong, it wasn`t profit,.....Gotcha Christy Clark...And for those paying attention, Christy Clark in her retraction used the exact same dollar amount as in the letter from Debra Marshall(BC Ferries spokeswoman)  posted above, and clearly, Debra Marshall admits that the money that was paid to the Province was not profit but was borrowed money handed over to the Campbell gang....And from everything I read, that money went into general revenue to prop up the budget numbers,....... and also so Campbell could claim a balanced budget in the 2005 election campaign.....Deception, fraud, guile, and that`s why it was priority for Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark to keep BC Ferries sheilded from scrutiny and from freedom of information.

Now friends, I need to clarify, there are two levels of complaints at the CBSC..Level 1 and level 2...My complaint to the CBSC council was resolved in level one...I didn`t want to pursue it any further, I got my retraction.

So lets examine a couple of items, Christy Clark was deputy Premier when BC Ferries was turned into a quazi private corporation, Christy Clark was deputy Premier when the Debenture was issued to BC ferries, Christy Clark voted to keep BC ferries free from FOI requests....Chrisy Clark knew(in my opinion) that everything she was saying on air about BC Ferries was a lie!!!!!


For example, how could BC Ferries return $500 million in profit to BC when they get a $180 million dollar yearly subsidy...Second, no ferries set sail until they are certified, it is illegal to have a ferry in service that hasn`t been certified for public transport by the authority....So Christy`s claim that the old fleet was in disrepair was a lie, especially when the same old fleet gets the lion`s share of the work TODAY while the new German ferries sit tied to the dock!
And it was under David Hahn that a ferry rammed the dock at horseshoe bay, it was under David Hahn that the Queen of the north hit Gill island and sunk to the bottom...And lastly, I mentioned the convention center on Christy`s show because...Christy claimed the fast ferries boondoggle took money away from the BC ferry fleet...Can`t the same thing be said of the $500 million dollar cost overrun on the Convention center, the cost overrun of $400 million on the golden ears bridge, $1 billion over budget on the Canada line, doesn`t all of those cost overruns take away from health, from education, from ferries, from the didabled, what is the $900 million dollar retractable  roof taking away from Government coffers, from the mentally handicapped, from the autistic, what do cost overruns take away from all ministries?


So folks, Christy Clark in cahoots with Gordon Campbell when she was deputy premier managed to privatize BC Ferries, shield ferries from FOI requests and steal BC Rail  from the public and gift it to David Mclean and CN Rail....
And it was then friends after I forced Christy Clark to retract on air that Nick Ozinsky(He runs the controls at cknw) and Christy Clark banned me from her show, when I called in to cknw when they were giving Olympic tickets away, when I won, Nick Ozinsky, with Christy Clark screaming in the background told me to "*bleep* off" and never call them again, and it wasn`t until I contacted Tom Plasteras(program manager for cknw) and told him the story did I get my prize, but I did not get Olympic tickets, I heard through my sources that Christy clark was stomping her feet and freaking out over Tom Plasteras honoring the contest and my Olympic tickets....Well, we know what happened next, I got tickets to see Don Rickles at the River Rock casino in May of 2010 and not tickets to the opening night at Molson Hockey house...Christy Clark got her small vindictive victory, .....So be it, I will win the war Christy!


So lastly, Sean Holman had posted an article that no complaints were made against Christy Clark at the CBSC, that is completely false, the CBSC hold newcasts in different regard than opinion talk shows...In other words folks, talk radio hosts can get away with mis-information, it`s almost impossible to prove that a radio talk show host is deliberately lying, so as for Sean Holman`s assertion that there are no complaints, he must be talking about level 2 complaints and has failed to find out how many complaints were REGISTERED against Christy Clark, regardless of that outcome, perhaps that information isn`t available, although I doubt it because they kept my complaint on file!....Take a look at Christy`s retraction, vague, she admitted there was no profit delivered to the people or Province, I got my remedy and didn`t pursue the complaint any further(level 2)....I received the complete transcript today for Christy`s radio show...The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council sent me the transcript today with all the dirty details!...From a Solange Courteau...Communications coordinator at CBSC....In fact friends, the CBSC did a little of their own research on BC Ferries and this is what the CBSC secretariat said about BC Ferries in their hard copy they sent me..


CBSC-...This is wild stuff folks....Here is what they said..The CBSC secretariat`s cursory research reveals that BC Ferries has a rather convoluted financing structure. BC Ferries is technically a private company , but the Provincial crown(through the BC Ferry authority) holds the single voting share in the company, In addition, the Government hold the non-voting preferred shares in the company, provides subsidies in the form of service fees to BC Ferries and holds a debenture against the company`s assets. snip

Even the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council calls the BC Ferries financial arrangement.."CONVOLUTED"


But....What makes the Christy Clark lie so much more offensive is.....There was no profit anywhere near that amount, BCFerries from 2004 to 2010 combined all years did not make anywhere near $500 million dollars! And..


Chrisy Clark was deputy Premier to gordon Campbell when the debenture was issued to BC ferries, Christy Clark was deputy premier when BC Ferries was removed from freedom of information requests, Christy clark, her brother, her ex-husband were all there for the BC Rail fraud...Christy is up to her eyeballs in dirty corrupt Campbell Government deals to insiders!

Believe me friends, Christy Ckuck Cluck Clark is no new Sensation, stale bread with a pasted smile!

 
 The Straight goods

And your point is?

[NAB]

I got this far and then quit, because it is an absolute crock, ....so I have to assume much of the rest of it is too.....

The new German ferries were sitting idle, they burn more fuel, carry less passengers, they rattle and to this day the old BC ferries fleet, the queens of Oak Bay,Coquitlam, Surrey,Comox etc etc get the lion`s share of the work while the German queens are on emergency standby....

And I wonder how many people know that under BC ferries new build program seven new ships have so far been added to the fleet since 2007, and which they describe as "we've embarked on the largest vessel renewal program in our company's history"

Nab

[zoo]

I love it when a Goverment owned and ran business claims the price of fuel is one of the major factors in not being profitable.
Try running your own business in this province when your own profits are also effected by the high prices/taxes of our fuel costs.
Guess what, you cant.

[maple leaf]

I got this far and then quit, because it is an absolute crock, ....so I have to assume much of the rest of it is too.....

The new German ferries were sitting idle, they burn more fuel, carry less passengers, they rattle and to this day the old BC ferries fleet, the queens of Oak Bay,Coquitlam, Surrey,Comox etc etc get the lion`s share of the work while the German queens are on emergency standby....

And I wonder how many people know that under BC ferries new build program seven new ships have so far been added to the fleet since 2007, and which they describe as "we've embarked on the largest vessel renewal program in our company's history"

Nab

To bad Nab,The article was dated back in 2010,and may have been a repost at that time from even earlier,as he has been writing on this topic form the time they privatized it. There was a period when there was a lot of problems with the Germain ferries,and he 's probably exaggerating to make a point.So throw everything out that he has brought up, if you have to.
I only brought it up,because I feel the guy gives some insight to the beginning downward spiral that BC ferries has been on since the Liberals privatized it.And has brought us to this point in time,loosing money.Also it gives a little snippet of Christy Clark lying and covering liberal tracks.

[logicalview]

I love it when a Goverment owned and ran business claims the price of fuel is one of the major factors in not being profitable.
Try running your own business in this province when your own profits are also effected by the high prices/taxes of our fuel costs.
Guess what, you cant.

You're right.

About the ownership of the BC Ferries

“B.C. Ferry Authority is a no-share-capital corporation created under the Coastal Ferry Act (British Columbia). It is the owner of the single issued voting share of British Columbia Ferry Services Inc. (“BC Ferries”), a Company incorporated in British Columbia, which is subject to the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia).”

The BC Ferry Authority (BC Ferries) is an incorporated company.

The unions would like you to believe that Christy Clark, Gordon Campbell or some other dastardly villain is the owner.

[NAB]

To bad Nab,The article was dated back in 2010,and may have been a repost at that time from even earlier,as he has been writing on this topic form the time they privatized it. There was a period when there was a lot of problems with the Germain ferries,and he 's probably exaggerating to make a point.So throw everything out that he has brought up, if you have to.
I only brought it up,because I feel the guy gives some insight to the beginning downward spiral that BC ferries has been on since the Liberals privatized it.And has brought us to this point in time,loosing money.Also it gives a little snippet of Christy Clark lying and covering liberal tracks.

Yes, I remember all the hyperbole back then, mostly originating with folk who were upset that the new ferries were built offshore and at far far less cost, faster, and with better technology than had they been built here. And there were NOT "a lot of problems with the German built ferries", any more than one would normally expect from incorporating those huge (by comparison) vessels into the fleet infrastructure. And if the blogger exaggerated "to make a point" on that relatively easy to check claim that the ferries were tied up for emergency backup, I expect that he may have done the same for other of his claims? ((Not that I believe for one moment that at the time Christy Clark knew what the hell she was (allegedly) talking about at the time either - and still doesn't)).

Nab

[John500]

Lower the prices to a reasonable level. Then people will come. They have priced themselves out of the market. And as so many government organiztions, they blame everything else except themselves.