Dear Editor:
Nowadays, Transportation Minister (Todd) Stone's talk about making the tough decisions with B.C. Ferries is taking on a new tone. He is trying to score political points by pretending after the fact to listen to previous public outcry for management structure review. Funniest thing is he "acknowledges" having no absolute power over CEO Mr. Corrigan. .. is this really the case. .. are we that gullible?
In his recent comments to media, Minister Stone said: "The single greatest challenge we have with making any changes to the current structure relates to debt. B.C. Ferries' debt based on the current structure is not rolled up on the province's bottom line. If that debt was on our bottom line it would very potentially impact our credit rating and drive up borrowing costs, that means less money for health care, education and indeed ferry investments.
"That's part of the quandary that we find ourselves in."
This carefully crafted new spin by Minister Stone is meant simply to silence coastal communities by claiming there is no way that our marine highway system can ever be returned to the provincial fold.
Please do the sensible thing, Minister Stone, and take over B.C. Ferries; then you can be fairly judged in being responsible for your ministry's bottom line.
Andrew Pietrow
Bowen Island
