BC Ferries CEO David Hahn will wing his way south to a luxury resort in the Bahamas in November for the purpose of selling international ferry operators on the idea of taking over several BC routes. In addition to the problem of not letting the BC public in on the details of what he's doing, there is the little problem that only two BC Ferry routes make money, Vancouver-Victoria and Horseshoe Bay-Nanaimo. That is why the government provided BC Ferries $126,742,000 this year to assure service on the other routes.

A private operator could cut service to match the revenue that each route is capable of generating. Of course that would mean sacrificing the idea that the ferries are part of the highway system, as well as sacrificing many of the communities currently served by BC Ferries. The Campbell government pretends that the BC Ferry Commission will protect the public with respect to levels of service and fares, but there is nothing to guarantee the public that their idea of service will be the same as the Commission's. What private operator would gamble on a contract that depends on the political will to offer subsidies?

BC Ferries has repeatedly shown that it is inept at public relations. It celebrated its new start in life by wasting money on a new logo for all the ships. It then bungled its privatized parking; that's the scheme where you take a hike to the ticket dispenser before discovering that you needed the number painted on your stall. To stay on the parking theme, it tried to shut down a small business that offers a popular park-and-ride service only to be refused an injunction by the courts which also took the opportunity to say that BC Ferries is not like a private company. It made a mess of its industrial relations by kicking off negotiations with a phony poll only to have to depend on the BC Federation of Labour to use its good will to sell the idea of binding arbitration. It has angered much of the province with its plan to throw $500 million at German workers while bad mouthing BC shipyards. The trip to the Bahamas to sell some of its routes is consistent with this track record. The trip will occur just six months before the provincial election. The results will be made public as election eve nears. Gordon Campbell may have thought that any mention of ferries would send New Democrats running, but even Bill Vander Zalm said that the NDP was smart enough to create jobs and spin-off benefits in BC.

The public sees that Campbell mishandled the ferries in his rush to use Enron style accounting to hide debt that belongs on the government books. The apparent arrogance of BC Ferries' spokespeople makes a bad situation worse. Christmas holidays haven't been kind to the Campbell Liberals, what with the raid on the legislature and the Maui wowie; this year Hahn may start the season early with his November jaunt.