While the Cariboo-Chilcotin region is defined geographically by rugged peaks, open grasslands and highlands, deep canyons, and sparkling lakes, British Columbia is ultimately a coastal province. You would think that being a province that borders the Pacific Ocean, we should be home to a thriving shipbuilding industry.
Instead, our very own BC Ferries – the continent’s largest passenger ferry line – announced last week that they awarded a Chinese state-owned shipyard the contract to build us four new major vessels.
As my colleague, Conservative MLA Peter Milobar, pointed out, Premier David Eby has been preaching for months now about buying “made in B.C.” and “made in Canada” products. But he has been conspicuously silent about this latest revelation in provincial procurement.
By giving this contract to CMI Weihai shipyard, we are losing the opportunity to invest in Canadian jobs and boost our domestic maritime industry. No Canadian shipyard submitted a bid on the BC Ferries contract, as they’re all completely busy with federal projects such as navy and coast guard ships.
Seaspan, B.C.’s main shipbuilder, said in September of 2024 during the request for proposals stage, “Canadian shipyards and their supply chains cannot compete with low wage countries that have lower employment standards, lower environmental standards and lower safety standards than Canada and B.C. The most significant difference is that in BC, the wages that we pay our skilled trades workforce are substantially higher than in these other countries.”
B.C. NDP Transportation Minister Mike Farnworth has already publicly expressed his concern over this contract with China and is trying to distance himself from this decision. But as transportation minister, he needs to be doing everything in his power to fight this contract.
Not only has China placed 25-100 per cent tariffs on Canadian agri-food products, but foreign affairs experts like Royal Military College professor Christian Leuprecht are speaking out about the national security concerns that could arise from this contract.
Conservative MP Jeff Kibble, representing Cowichan–Malahat–Langford, raised in the House of Commons that the Liberals are set to allocate approximately $35 million in federal subsidies to BC Ferries just as BC Ferries hands over critical jobs, investment, and industry to China. Kibble urged the federal Liberal government to tie ferry subsidies to buying Canadian-built ships.
On the provincial side of things, my Conservative Party of B.C. colleagues and I are calling for this contract to be cancelled.
If there is truly no local or national shipbuilder able to fulfill the BC Ferries contract, let it be a serious wake-up call that this province needs to invest in its maritime industry. In the meantime, grant the contract to a trusted NATO country.
