sa国际传媒 Ferry Services Inc. looks like a Crown corporation and acts like a Crown corporation. It鈥檚 time to admit that reality and put the ferry service back under the oversight of the province.
Crown corporations are established by the legislature to provide services that cannot be provided economically by private enterprise, or go beyond the scope of any particular ministry. Though they are granted varying degrees of autonomy to shield them from government intervention and political manipulation, they are still accountable to the legislature through cabinet ministers.
sa国际传媒 has about 30 Crown corporations, including sa国际传媒 Hydro, the Insurance Corp. of sa国际传媒 and sa国际传媒 Transit. The province has deemed electricity, basic car insurance and public transportation to be essential services that should not be left to the profit-and-loss influences of private enterprise. We fail to see a difference between those services and ferries. The services of sa国际传媒 Ferries are essential to the economies of many island and coastal communities.
The ferry service was a Crown corporation from early in its existence until 2003, when the sa国际传媒 Liberal government privatized it as sa国际传媒 Ferry Services Inc., with the aim of improving service and shielding taxpayers from future debt. BCF was placed under the ownership of the sa国际传媒 Ferry Authority, which is governed by a nine-member board of directors. The ferry authority鈥檚 board of directors appoints the nine members of the board of sa国际传媒 Ferries, which oversees the ferries鈥� management team.
In addition, the sa国际传媒 Ferry Commission exists to regulate fares and routes for the service. All three entities are supposed to be independent of government.
Yet the ferry service cannot be truly independent 鈥� most of the routes cost more to run than they bring in, and subsidies are necessary to keep them operating.
Another of the purposes of creating these supposedly independent entities was to keep the ferry service free of politics, but developments this week cast considerable doubt on that theory. Transportation Minister Todd Stone said he has given Donald Hayes, chairman of the sa国际传媒 Ferries board, 30 days to figure out how to fix the bonus structure for its top executives after the ferry corporation鈥檚 two executive vice-presidents saw their bonuses nearly double, even though ridership is declining, fares have risen and plans are being discussed to cut service.
Hayes had defended the bonuses at the sa国际传媒 Ferries annual general meeting last month, linking the bonuses to $26 million in internal savings. But while the corporation reported a $15-million surplus, it also required $21.5 million in extra government subsidies.
While bonuses are not a major factor in the ferry corporation鈥檚 finances 鈥� it鈥檚 an $800-million operation, after all 鈥� they are the flashpoint for public anger and mistrust. They show an organization out of touch with the public it is supposed to serve.
It鈥檚 telling that Stone went to Hayes directly, rather than to the board of directors of the sa国际传媒 Ferry Authority, the ostensible owner of sa国际传媒 Ferries. That indicates an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
The selling of liquor is something that could easily be handled by private enterprise, as could auto insurance. In these cases, forces such as competition and supply and demand would influence prices and the level of service, yet the province hangs on to those services.
The ferry service isn鈥檛 a business guided by market forces, and while some routes are profitable, most are not and never will be.
It鈥檚 a vital service, it鈥檚 subsidized by taxpayers and it鈥檚 owned by the people of sa国际传媒 It should be accountable to the people of sa国际传媒 as a Crown corporation.
