Editor,
British Columbia presently has a lame duck government in B.C.
NDP Finance Minister Carole James does not know the difference between a debit and a credit.
The B.C. ferry fare freeze on all major routes – a 15 per cent discount on fares for all smaller ferry routes, and re-instating seniors to travel free as passengers from Mondays to Thursdays is all fine and dandy.
If Carole knew her debits and credits, then she would know there is two sides to a ledger.
The other side of the ledger in this case, is she must freeze all wage rates for all employees employed in the B.C. Ferry Corporation, as long as the fare freeze is in effect.
If you freeze the revenue, then you must freeze the expenses.
In a nutshell, she has frozen the revenue, and the expenses keep climbing.
I do not approve of her present proposal.
I would approve of her proposal only if she would freeze the wages, too.
Every April 1, ferry workers get a pay raise: on April 1, 2018, 1.75%; on April 1, 2019, 1.9%; and April 1, 2020, 1.9%.
In the past, everyone complained about the fare increase every April 1, but our B.C. media news group would never report that at the same time all ferry workers got a raise in wages.
In the past, the standard April 1 fare rate increase was to cover the increase in wages. It’s just plain common sense in running a business.
If facts and reality were mentioned in the news, then we would not have so much propaganda, which seems to be the norm these days.
Come April 1, 2018, remember the next time you pay for your ferry ticket, the ticket agent is being paid $27.25 per hour that also includes a full benefit package.
It’s so sad our present B.C. minister of finance, who is paid a taxpayer-funded salary of $158,822.75 per year, is so out of touch.
Former B.C. Social Credit premier, W.A.C. Bennett, said, “The NDP could never operate a peanut stand.”
It’s so true as B.C. Ferries third-quarter operating loss ending Dec. 31, 2017 was $14.8 million, and still the minority NDP government is freezing fares, and giving all employees pay raises.
It’s a very sad situation for B.C. taxpayer.
I cannot blame the NDP, though.
The blame belongs to the taxpayers who voted for change.
Joe Sawchuk
Duncan