By Wolfgang Depner
British Columbia Premier David Eby said he shares the concerns of unions that have criticized the BC Ferries‘ decision to build four large ships in China.
The premier said Tuesday he doesn’t believe the decision will alienate the NDP from the unions — a key component of his government’s support.
“We work very closely with the labour movement to create good, high-quality, family supporting jobs here in British Columbia, and we share the concerns, frankly, of labour leaders who have expressed that they are dismayed, to say the least, that ferries are not getting built, at least in Canada, if not in British Columbia.”
Eby said he will not interfere with the company’s decision to contract a Chinese shipyard owned by the Communist government to build the “urgently needed” vessels, despite the deal not being his “preferred outcome.”
Cancelling the contract at this stage would come with several costs, the premier said.
“The decision to reopen, revisit, a five-year-procurement process … re-award contracts is not just a billion-dollar decision,” he said. “It’s well in excess of that, when you are retendering again in an inflationary environment, in addition to the time it would take.”
The decision by BC Ferries, the company that operates independently of the provincial government but is wholly owned by it, has drawn widespread criticism from groups including the BC Federation of Labour.
It has called the contract a “colossal mistake” and a “short-sighted decision” that will send hundreds of millions of dollars out of province and into the pockets of a “brutal authoritarian regime.”
BC Building Trades said the agreement “will forever be a stain” on BC Ferries, while the BC Ferry & Marine Workers’ Union has called on BC Ferries and the provincial government to “reconsider” the decision and support domestic industry.
“If buying local matters, it should matter for ferries too,” the ferry workers union said in a statement.
The anger from the unions have raised questions about the long-term relationship between the NDP and unions, but Geoff Meggs, a former chief of staff to the late John Horgan, said does not foresee any long-term damage.
“I think there’s a greater risk of alienating union support in the new bargaining process with the public sector unions and how the budget plays out in terms of job protection and service protection,” Meggs said. “This is more of a blow to morale for parts of the union movement.”
Meggs said he understands why the unions successfully sponsored a non-binding resolution at the B.C. New Democrats provincial council last Saturday questioning the decision.
“The shipyard workers in B.C. have been campaigning for decades to increase the capacity of the yards here,” Meggs said.
Meggs said that his former boss would have been “very angry and frustrated” if BC Ferries had made the decision under his watch.
Ferry workers’ president Eric McNeely acknowledged that BC Ferries is an independent company, but he called for a review of its governance to ensure better oversight, public input and transparency when it comes to awarding large contracts such as this one.
“I think there should be controls in place and those controls should be tested occasionally to ensure that they still meet the public’s interest on massive infrastructure projects,” he said.
McNeely also questioned Eby’s argument that cancelling the contract would come with costs.
It’s “hard to have a really good response when British Columbians don’t know what the contract looks like,” he said.
McNeely acknowledged that China is a trading partner and noted that his wife and daughter purchased iPhones made in China. “But I didn’t use taxpayers money to buy those iPhones.”
Eby said it was “not ideal” that the ferry contract went to China, when asked whether the deal was not giving China the capacity to expand its military.
“But reopening would mean a delay in delivering ferries for British Columbians, who are desperate for them,” Eby said.
Eby noted no Canadian company bid for the contract, and B.C. shipyards currently lack the necessary capacity — highlighting the hollowing out of the provincial shipbuilding industry.
But Eby, who was speaking for the first time after returning from his trade mission to Asia, said the province will be working with the federal government to ensure that the next major vessels for BC Ferries will be built in the province — or at the very least in Canada.
“But it’s equally vital to me, that when there is no Canadian company willing to bid on a contract, that we don’t leave families sitting on the tarmac, waiting for a ferry because the propeller fell off, because it’s 50 years old,” he said.
