Fixed prices, delivery, transparency: Feds shift focus to future as BC Ferries lays out priorities

BC Ferries' decision to grant a contract to a Chinese firm underpinned a discussion about the future of ferries, and what it will take to build more in Canada.

After BC Ferries decision to award a contract to a Chinese firm ignited a political firestorm, a transportation summit gathered government, industry, and suppliers to look at what it would take to use Canadian materials and labour to build Canadian infrastructure.

Federal Transportation Minister Chrystia Freeland held a press conference after the “Made in Canada” meeting, focusing on the future of rail and ferry expansion while avoiding commenting on the controversial decision by BC Ferries to buy its next four vessels from a Chinese shipbuilder.

“The fleet for both the federal ferries and the provincial ferries needs to be renewed,” she said.

“We had the shipbuilders here today to hear from them, what it’s going to take to make it possible for them to bid on those contracts.”

It’s a de-escalation of her comments in June, when she expressed “great consternation and disappointment,” that a Chinese state-owned company was chosen during the geo-political context.

The CEO of BC Ferries described the summit as “a good opportunity to have an honest conversation” about the realities of the ship-building industry, pointing out that not only were there no domestic bids for the new ferries, Canadian providers offer less favourable terms than their overseas competitors.

“We need (ship) yards to be able to provide the same certainties around cost as we would see internationally – fixed prices, that’s pretty standard in the industry,” said Nicolas Jiminez in an interview with CTV News. “We would need the kind of guarantees that we would get around delivery.”

He says building the vessels in Europe would’ve cost an extra $1 billon, and that Canadian shipyards are already busy producing vessels for the federal government, with those contracts keeping workers tied up for five to 10 years.

The first vessel built in China’s Weihai Shipyards is expected to go into service in 2029.

BC Ferries has said a team of experts will be on site during construction of the vessels to supervise and ensure quality is up to its standards.

As for the federal government’s security concerns and criticism of sending Canadian tax dollars to China during a time of trade tension, Jiminez revealed they’ve known since spring that the Chinese firm was the likely winner of the contract.

“We certainly, reached out to the federal government in mid-April to give them awareness that we were getting close to a decision inside of our procurement, and we let officials know they had no decision-making role in that,” he said, explaining that they do want advice about potential economic and national security issues.

Jiminez said that in the conversations he had, no one at the Canadian Infrastructure Bank nor other participants expressed any misgivings.

With files from CTV News Vancouver Legislative Bureau Chief, Rob Buffam.