Dan Albas: Liberals say they oppose the BC Ferries deal but fund it anyway

Dan Albas is the Conservative Party MP for the riding of Okanagan Lake West—South Kelowna.

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I would like to begin by thanking the large number of people who took the time share their comments with me over my past two weekly reports.

In these reports, I referenced a recent controversial decision by BC Ferries to purchase four new ferries from a state-owned shipyard controlled by the Chinese Communist government.

Part of the controversy stems from the fact that the federal Liberal government made it clear to the BC NDP provincial government that they must “verify and confirm with utmost certainty that no federal funding will be diverted to support the acquisition of these new ferries.”

It was later revealed that, despite the federal Liberal government’s objection, the entire $1 billion ferry acquisition is being financed by the federally created Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB).

The vast majority of comments I received largely agreed with Federal Liberal Transport Minister Chrystia Freeland who stated: “I share the concern and anger of other members of this House about the purchase of Chinese ferries. I have written to the Province of BC to make clear that the federal government’s support for BC Ferries, which is explicitly for operating support, must not be used for anything other than the operation of ferries. We owe it to the people of BC to support the operation of their ferries. We also owe it to the people of Canada to support Canadian shipbuilding, Canadian steel and Canadian workers.”

I can now also share that Pierre Poilievre, leader of Conservative Party, has stated: “We, as today, the Conservatives, federal Conservatives, have called for the Federal Infrastructure Bank to cancel the billion-dollar loan. We shouldn’t be giving federal tax dollars to subsidize jobs overseas. The federal government should only be funding job creation in Canada. And so that’s why we said let’s end this loan. It doesn’t have any benefit for the Canadian people.”

So now that both the Liberal Government and the official Conservative Opposition both seem to agree that no federal funds should be used to subsidize these Chinese state-built ferries, what happens next?

Unfortunately, we do not know. Despite the Liberals stated position that no federal funding should be used to build these Ferries in China, the Liberals have since gone silent and now refuse to publicly state if they will cancel this federal loan or not.

This lack of leadership from PM Carney is deeply concerning. Why would the Liberals provide funding to China to build these ferries if they have publicly stated they disagree with federal funding being used to build these ferries in China?

The Transport Committee in Ottawa will be studying this matter in the near future and as the Shadow Cabinet Critic for Transportation, I will share any future updates on this important matter.

My question this week. When was the last time you used BC Ferries, and do you plan on using them this summer?

I can be reached at [email protected] or call toll-free 1-800-665-8711.