Subhead:Despite the billion-dollar contract moving forward, petition drop-offs at government offices show Canadians are watching—and demanding change.#
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Over 7,000 Canadians signed our ‘No CCP Deals’ petition, calling on BC Ferries, a publicly funded operator, along with the provincial and federal governments, to halt the ferry service’s billion-dollar plan to contract a Chinese state-owned shipyard for the construction of four new vessels.
On behalf of those thousands of voices, I visited B.C. Transportation Minister Mike Farnworth’s Port Coquitlam constituency office TWICE, to deliver the petition. But despite being there during office hours, the doors were locked — the lights were on, but nobody appeared to be inside.
This symbolic shut-out mirrors what many Canadians see as a broader betrayal: a Canada Last deal with a hostile foreign regime done while elected officials either looked away or claimed their hands were tied.
Minister Farnworth tried to distance himself from the decision, saying: “B.C. Ferries is an independent company responsible for its own operational decisions.”
But that statement doesn’t tell the full story.
BC Ferries may be operationally independent, but it’s owned by the BC Ferry Authority, a government-created entity that the province controls through legislation, appointments, and funding.
As Minister of Transportation, Farnworth represents the shareholder interest and thus could have, and should have, set clear expectations that put our economy first when it comes to billion-dollar contracts.
But he didn’t.
