Chris Selley: Why would B.C. pay more for ferries just to spite Donald Trump?
British Columbia's transportation minister claimed Friday that buying new ferries from European shipyards would have cost roughly $1.2 billion more than buying them from a Chinese government-owned shipyard in Weihai, Shandong province, which is a city roughly the size of Montreal that I had never heard of until this week. China knows how to build cities. They burst into existence from nothing, like popcorn. China also knows how to build ships, and highways, and high-speed rail, and just about anything else you would care to name, better and more efficiently than the Canadian public service can realistically comprehend.
Article content
Article content
The four ships B.C. Ferries is fixing to replace, of 1960s and 1970s vintage, were built at Seaspan in North Vancouver (which is an active shipyard), at the Victoria Machinery Depot (which is no longer an active shipyard), and at the Burrard Dry Dock (which is also defunct). Canada's shipyards, for better or worse — certainly for expensive! — are very busy building things for the navy.
Article content
Article content
Article content
B.C. Ferries has plenty of experience with foreign-built vessels. Its current fleet includes ships built in Romania, Poland, Germany and Greece. Other than the Baynes Sound cable ferry on Vancouver Island — which is not especially popular — the Crown corporation's newest Canadian-built boat went into service in 1997. So 'foreign' obviously isn't the problem.
Article content
But China is China, and that's legitimately another thing. China is not a Canadian ally. They try to screw with our democracy, and most other democracies by the sounds of it. And right now we are in a profoundly protectionist moment: Across the political spectrum, mostly because of President Donald Trump, 'buy Canadian' is the only philosophy really on offer.
Article content
Article content
But does that make sense? We should pay over the odds for ferries … because of Trump? There wasn't half of all this foofaraw when Marine Atlantic on the East Coast bought its newest ferry from Weihai. Since last year it has safely been shepherding Canadians between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, without a whisper of controversy in the Rest of Canada.
Article content
Article content
But this is 2025. So on Tuesday during question period in Ottawa, Conservative MP Jeff Kibble assailed the government for allowing this purchase go forward, as opposed to handing the contract to a 'proven Canadian shipbuilder such as Seaspan.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBC
16 hours ago
- CBC
B.C. Premier Eby says he's not opposed to privately-backed oil pipeline to north coast
Social Sharing As Alberta Premier Danielle Smith pushes for a crude oil pipeline to British Columbia's north coast, B.C. Premier David Eby says he's not simply saying no. Instead, Eby said he's against the public funding of such a pipeline. "What I don't support is tens of billions of dollars in federal subsidy going to build this new pipeline when we already own a pipeline that empties into British Columbia and has significant additional capacity — 200,000 barrels," Eby said on Sunday, referring to the Trans Mountain pipeline. He added there's no company currently advocating for Smith's pipeline proposal. "There's no money for it," Eby told CBC's chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton. Smith has been advocating for the bitumen pipeline to B.C.'s northern tidewaters and said she is actively searching for interested private sector companies. She has suggested the pipeline's end point be in Prince Rupert, B.C., avoiding the cancelled Northern Gateway pipeline's proposed terminus in another northern B.C. port, Kitimat. But Eby said he wants to prioritize projects that are "shovel-ready." "We have major projects with private proponents, cash on the table, ready to go to hire people and build — let's focus on those," he said. Eby listed B.C. energy projects including the LNG Canada project in Kitimat and the Ksi Lisims LNG project north of Prince Rupert, as well as major hydroelectric projects, mining projects in the northwest, and various wind and solar projects that he said will be interconnected with the Yukon and Alberta. WATCH | LNG Canada export facility comes online: Canada's first LNG plant expected to start up soon in Kitimat, B.C. 4 hours ago Duration 5:26 Chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton speaks with Kitimat Mayor Phil Germuth about the new LNG plant expected to start producing soon and the region's industrial history. Eby also highlighted the fact that he recently signed onto a memorandum of understanding with western premiers around a trade corridor that could include major energy projects such as heavy oil. But he noted there are major issues with a proposal for a pipeline, particularly the federal tanker ban on the north coast. The ban prohibits oil tankers carrying more than 12,500 metric tons of crude oil, or persistent oil products, from stopping, loading, or unloading at ports in a restricted area covering nearly the entire north coast. WATCH | Western premiers discuss new partnerships: Western premiers agree on economic co-operation but split over pipelines 1 month ago Duration 1:54 B.C's premier has wrapped up talks with fellow western premiers in Yellowknife. While the focus was on trade and natural resources, western separatism was on the agenda, if not unofficially. CBC's Katie DeRosa reports Smith has said she will convince Eby of the pipeline's merits, which she said could include billions in revenue. "It's Team Canada or not," she said on Rosemary Barton Live earlier this month. "I would hope that what would happen is that we would identify whatever legitimate concerns that a province might have and then work through them," Smith added. Prime Minister Mark Carney has said while he wants to , he wants to build consensus between governments. "We will not impose a project on a province," Carney said at a press conference earlier this month. Eby said he would be happy to sit down with Albertan officials if a private proponent came to the table without public money. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Eby said.
CBC
18 hours ago
- CBC
Bill C-5 passes in the House of Commons. Now what?
Chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton speaks with B.C. Premier David Eby about how his province is hoping to work with the federal government. Plus, Grand Chief Trevor Mercredi of the Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta talks about concerns the legislation would enable the government to bypass land protections in the name of economic development. And the Sunday Scrum discusses Liberals' unexpected partner in the minority government: the Conservatives.
CTV News
a day ago
- CTV News
‘Count me as skeptical': Eby open to conversations with Smith on pipelines, doubtful private proponent will come forward
Premier David Eby speaks to reporters from his office following the throne speech at the legislature in Victoria, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito As the federal government passes its contentious bill to streamline approvals of so-called nation-building projects, B.C. Premier David Eby says he's doubtful he can be convinced of the need to build a new pipeline through his province. The Liberals' Bill C-5 — dubbed the Building Canada Act — passed 306 to 31 on Friday, just minutes before the House rose for the summer break. The bill — aimed at giving government sweeping new powers to approve major projects of national interest — is now headed for the Senate, where it's expected to pass. Amid opposition to the bill, Prime Minister Mark Carney has promised that he won't impose a project on a province that doesn't want it, and that all projects will require consensus to go ahead. The condition prompted Alberta Premier Danielle Smith to say during an interview on CTV Question Period earlier this month that she would 'convince' Eby to support building a pipeline to transport oil from her province, through his, to tidewater. Eby has said he won't support a new pipeline built with any public dollars, arguing the Trans Mountain Expansion Project (TMX) is already in place. In an interview on CTV Question Period airing Sunday, Eby told host Vassy Kapelos the priority should be getting TMX operating at capacity before greenlighting new projects. 'There's no fight here,' Eby said, of the potential standoff between the two premiers. 'The concern that I have is a matter of priorities.' '(TMX) is owned by Canadians. It's not operating at capacity,' Eby also said. 'There's 200,000 additional barrels of capacity in that pipeline. Let's start there.' The B.C. premier added he doesn't think a new pipeline should be subsidized by government, arguing there are other energy projects being proposed by private companies, which should be prioritized. When pressed by Kapelos on the positive impact of TMX on Canada's GDP, and whether the two are mutually exclusive — if the government can at once create an environment through Bill C-5 to encourage private investment in major projects so they don't need to be federally funded, while other energy projects Eby listed also move ahead — Eby pointed to his signing of an agreement with the Prairie and other Western provinces for a 'port-to-port' energy corridor. 'If Premier Smith is able to come up with this (pipeline) project, that's what the corridor will be for,' he said. 'Count me as skeptical, and count me as opposed to the idea of tens of billions of dollars of additional federal subsidy when we have a pipeline that is not currently at capacity in our province operating right now,' he added, when asked by Kapelos whether he can be convinced by Smith that a new pipeline project could have merit. The B.C. premier said he would prefer to focus on projects that can be delivered on 'in the here and now.' He also said that if Smith can conceive of a pipeline project that doesn't require 'significant federal subsidy,' then 'more power to her.' 'If the premier of Alberta is able to deliver it, then let's have that conversation,' he said. 'But I don't see that.'
