April 13, 2005
VANCOUVER - The NDP have released a platform that will re-politicize BC Ferries, resulting in millions of additional interest costs to taxpayers without accounting for it in their proposed budget.
"The NDP's plan for BC Ferries will add approximately $30 million in additional interest costs to BC taxpayers - yet no where is that costed in their platform," said Minister of Transportation and candidate for Surrey-Cloverdale Kevin Falcon. "It is unbelievable that the NDP would actually put in their platform a policy decision that would add almost $600 million in debt. However, given the NDP's record on budgets, it is less surprising that they haven't even costed this lunacy in their budget."
The final page of the NDP's platform deals entirely with BC Ferries - outlining the increase in debt that would result from their plan - without providing any accounting for the increased taxpayer-supported debt-servicing costs.
In addition to the immediate increase of $500 million in debt, the NDP plan will result in the end of private sector investment in BC Ferries. This will add another $2 billion debt on to taxpayers over the next 15 years. As it currently stands, over $2 billion dollars in private sector capital is expected to fund capital expansion (new ferries, terminal upgrades) over the next 15 years for the independent BC Ferries Services.
"The NDP clearly have learned nothing from the Fast Ferries debacle and the three comprehensive reviews on the topic," said Falcon. "Voters rejected the NDP's backwards looking plan in 2001 and they are going to reject it once again in 2005."
