Atlantic Canada’s ferry passengers get 350 times the federal subsidies that ferry passengers in B.C. receive, a study prepared for the Union of B.C. Municipalities finds.

Federal funding for West Coast ferries relative to East Coast ferries shows that Marine Atlantic is subsidized $493 per passenger. BC Ferries’ federal subsidy is $1.41 per passenger, the analysis notes. Ferry travellers here get about 0.2 per cent of the federal financial support counterparts on the Atlantic get, although ferry use here is 20 times greater.

Transport Canada says Atlantic subsidies are driven by constitutional requirements. West Coast subsidies are set by a 1977 agreement with B.C. But B.C.’s population has since doubled. It’s now twice that of all Atlantic Canada. Vancouver Island’s population is 48 per cent larger than Newfoundland’s.

John Weston, Conservative MP for the Sunshine Coast region, argues BC Ferries is under provincial jurisdiction and Ottawa shouldn’t interfere.

Jim Abram, chair of the Strathcona Regional District, calls the federal contribution to West Coast ferries “paltry.”

“Our coastal and provincial communities are continuing to suffer to the point of having to leave their homes and close their businesses due to the fact that they cannot afford the outrageous fares to ride the ferry, which is nothing more than our bus on the Marine Highway.”

Demanding more federal support for BC Ferries doesn’t mean Atlantic Canada deserves less, says Abram. Fairness means Ottawa should contribute more to B.C.’s system, which it acknowledges is part of the highway system.

“We’re all tied together by a transcontinental highway. Mile Zero for the Trans-Canada Highway is in Victoria, which happens to be on Vancouver Island,” Abrams says.

UBCM’s study analyses the effect of the provincial policy that recovers more than 80 per cent of operating costs from ferry users by raising fares.

Both the province and BC Ferries’ passengers have substantially increased contributions — the provincial subsidy increased 68 per cent since 2003 to $154.4 million annually. But fares have increased steeply. Passengers now contribute $500 million a year in fares. Over the same period, the federal contribution increased by a scant 18.3 per cent to $28.4 million annually.

Critics claim the policy of recovering costs from skyrocketing fares has damaged the economy of a region representing about 22 per cent of B.C.’s tourism market and generating about $50 billion in provincial GDP annually.

Over the past decade of fare increases, ferry ridership in B.C. has steadily declined by about 11 per cent — cumulatively that’s roughly 26 million fewer trips — and so has the spinoff economic activity they represent. Think of it as 26 million fewer diners, shoppers, skiers, B.C. Lions fans, theatre-goers and so on.

On average, domestic overnight and same day ferry travellers spend about $132 a trip, the UBCM analysis found. It estimates the cost of declining ferry traffic at about $1.8 billion a year in lost economic activity.

Gross economic losses from forgone passenger-related expenditures were pegged at $2.3 billion. Tax revenues lost to all levels of government amounted to $600 million.

These are big numbers for governments that constantly cry poverty. Many small coastal communities say the effect has been crushing.

Citizens might reasonably ask why federal MPs are so ineffectual in advocating for their provincial constituents since they include heavyweights like Industry Minister James Moore, Conservative whip John Duncan from Vancouver Island and Alice Wong, minister of state responsible for the seniors for recently lost the privilege of free mid-week travel on BC Ferries.

Why such vast regional differences in funding for this vital part of B.C.’s economic infrastructure?

And where’s the province? Why isn’t it demanding comparable federal support for maritime infrastructure?

Back in 1992, when NDP Premier Mike Harcourt overlooked B.C.’s interests in the distribution of senate seats during the Charlottetown constitutional meetings, he was tagged “Premier Bonehead.” The perception that he cared little and knew less about matters of vital interest to B.C. contributed to his early departure.

Premier Christy Clark risks being remembered as Premier Bonehead II. Look, there’s a federal election coming. Times change. Smart politicians change with them. She should be advocating loudly for federal equity in ferry funding.

shume@islandnet.com