:: rawblogXport ::

:: Thursday, August 12, 2004 ::

Shipyards refuse to give up fight over ferry project Global BC, Vancouver Sun
A rally aimed at convincing B.C. Ferries to reconsider its decision to build its bigger ferries overseas was staged at North Vancouver's dry dock Wednesday.


Vander Zalm joins ferry debate CBC News
VANCOUVER - Former Social Credit premier Bill Vander Zalm has slammed B.C. Ferries' plan to have three new ferries built in Europe, at a cost of $500 million.

Speaking at a rally of about 300 shipyard workers and their supporters in North Vancouver, Vander Zalm said the ferries should be built in B.C. shipyards.

'I'm here to protest with you a dumb decision,' he said. 'A decision not based on good economics, a decision not based on what's good for the province or what's good for you.'

B.C. Federation of Labour president Jim Sinclair, who shared the platform with Vander Zalm, said it's extremely rare when a union leader and a former Socred premier agree.

'It's a pretty crazy province sometimes,' he said. 'Here I am at a workers' rally with Bill Vander Zalm. That's how crazy it is.

'What's been lost in this whole story is common sense. That's why Bill Vanderzalm and Jim Sinclair are on the same podium.'

B.C. Federation of Labour Says Plan to Build Ferries Overseas is Part of Larger BC Liberal Privatization Agenda BC Federation of Labour
"BC taxpayers don't want to help pay to send jobs overseas," said Sinclair. "The reason the BC Liberals don't want them built here is because the real agenda is to sell off BC's public assets."

Sinclair scorned a plan by BC Ferries to send American CEO David Hahn to a November conference in the Bahamas where he intends to promote the sale of smaller routes to private operators, as revealed by the NDP.

"I have a message for David Hahn: Why don't you make that trip one way! You can stay in the Bahamas and we'll keep our jobs here in BC," Sinclair stated.

posted 6:14 AM :: reference link :: 0 comments ::

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