Accountability of BC Ferries

March 31, 2007 Accountability of BC Ferries On Monday, March 26, the day when BC Ferries released its internal investigation into the sinking of the Queen of the North, Gary Coons, MLA for North Coast, asked Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon: "What is the minister doing to ensure that all the Morfitt recommendations will be acted upon to protect passengers and crew members?" In response Falcon said: " I think one of the important things here - and it's appropriate this member asked the question - is, as I said from the very beginning, that we not jump to conclusions or try to form conclusions on what you think may have happened before you had all the facts." Following the sinking of the Queen of the North, former Auditor General George Morfitt was asked by BC Ferries to conduct a safety audit. His report, released January 2007, stressed that BC Ferries should "reinforce that operational safety is the company's number one priority, and that at no time should any other company objective take a higher level of priority." Morfitt made 41 recommendations, including that BC Ferries should: "establish criteria, policies and procedures for crew selection and assignment that will promote greater cohesion and synergy among bridge crews for each watch and shift period." Greater synergy among bridge crews is an interesting euphuism given allegations about the bridge crew. Management has an obligation to assure the public that the bridge crew will pay full attention to the course of the vessel and rather than to any personal matters. Current Acting Auditor General Arn van Iersel released his report titled "Seeking Best Practices in Financial Reporting: Report on the Province's 2005 / 06 Public Accounts" in January 2007. It contained an interesting section on the boundaries of the government reporting entity; that's auditor speak for what gets included in the government's books. The report said: "Usually, we agree with government officials on the most appropriate accounting approach. For instance, when the BC Safety Authority and the Land Title and Survey Authority were created we agreed that these authorities should report their financial results separately from government. Accordingly, their results are not consolidated within government's financial plans or the Summary Financial Statements. Often, much analysis and discussion takes place before we reach agreement on the matter. When the new BC Ferry Services Inc. was created, for example, determining the most appropriate accounting treatment took several months of analysis and discussion. Eventually all parties decided that, for that point in time, the most appropriate accounting for this organization was to report its financial results separately from government. For BC Ferry Services Inc, our Office also indicated we would monitor and assess whether such an accounting treatment continues to be appropriate. We are doing this because the legislation creating this organization established a complex ownership and governance structure, and because it has a significant ongoing relationship with government through the Coastal Ferry Services Contract." (emphasis added) Falcon's handling of questions with respect to the sinking of the Queen of the North indicates that the government understands that it is accountable. He didn't say, nor should he have said, "to go and ask David Hahn". Falcon understands that there would be public outrage if the government didn't deal with questions about the sinking. The public understands that the government essentially owns and controls BC Ferries; that understanding should translate into a further review by the Auditor General on the appropriateness of excluding it from the "government reporting entity". BC Ferries should be a part of the government's books, it should be subject to freedom of information legislation, and it should be accountable before legislative committees. The Campbell government's response to questions on the sinking of the Queen of the North demonstrates that BC Ferries continues to be a crown corporation and should be subject to all the accountability mechanisms that apply to crowns.