After a week out of the public eye following his trade trip to Asia, Premier David Eby was back in Victoria on Tuesday (June 17) to defend the decision by BC Ferries to build four new ferries in China.
He said that while he is unhappy the contract is going to a Chinese state-owned company, no Canadian companies bid on it and it would have cost more than $1 billion to build the ferries in a third country. The need for new ferries is so dire that it is not realistic to revisit the five-year procurement process to get the ships built elsewhere, he said.
"We need a lot of ferries, and so the work has to continue," he said. "I won't ask families to sit around with the dog, sweating in the car for a four-sailing wait, because the ferries are down."
BC Ferries announced on June 10 that it has selected China Merchants Industry Weihai Shipyards to build four new ferries, which it hopes will enter service between 2029 and 2031. The total value of the contract was not released.
Eby said the lack of a Canadian bidder shows the "hollowing out" of shipbuilding in B.C. over the past 50 years. He pledged to reach out to Prime Minister Mark Carney to try to ensure there is capacity to build the next four ferries in B.C.
Procurement decisions are made by BC Ferries independently of the government — the Crown corporation has a board, executive and ferry authority overseeing it — but the NDP government is under fire for a decision that runs counter to Buy B.C. efforts.
Eby said it is for a "very good reason" that procurement in these sorts of contracts is kept separate from government.
The government can provide direction, such as the directive to Crown corporations not to buy American as a response to U.S. tariffs, but Eby has not extended that directive to large contracts like this one.
Contracts unwinnable for Canadian shipbuilders
Local union representatives say the problem is how the procurement contract was written, with timelines that B.C. builders would be unable to meet and conditions that made it "difficult, if not impossible," for Canadian shipbuilders.
"The playing field is not level for domestic shipbuilding," said Eric McNeely, president of the B.C. Ferry and Marine Workers' Union. His union represents most of the workers on BC Ferries, as well as those involved in maintenance.
Part of the problem is that B.C. shipbuilders build end-to-end and can't build ships of that size simultaneously.
McNeely also said that while local shipbuilders can't deliver new ferries in a timeframe similar to the Chinese builders, there are ways to ensure parts are made in B.C. And there are ways to help develop shipbuilding in the province — something the premier did commit to attempting.
"It's not a capability they have right now, but it's one that could grow," McNeely said.
Brynn Bourke of the BC Building Trades union said in a written statement that the decision will "forever be a stain on BC Ferries," and her union's workers stand ready to build components for new ships should the Crown corporation reverse course.
Local shipbuilder Seaspan released a statement highlighting the work it has done building Canadian Navy and Coast Guard ships, saying it hopes the B.C. government will work with it to develop the capability to build ferries fast enough to compete.
"We look forward to exploring how this capability can be leveraged to build future BC ferries here at home, and therefore generate the strategic industrial and significant socio-economic benefits associated with capital projects of this nature for British Columbians," said Dave Hargreaves, a Seaspan senior vice president.
There are also questions about why the B.C. government would do business with a non-democratic regime and whether this is in the public interest. McNeely questioned whether China is a stable trading partner.
This can be particularly concerning when parts must be obtained in the future to maintain the ships. Securing future supply chains becomes critical.
"When we become dependent, we lose all leverage," McNeely said.
