THURSDAY FEB 8, 2018
VOL. 44, NO. 05
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Saving sharks
Islanders work aims to keep rare species in our seas
Casting votes
A goodbye...
A call for our electoral system to keep up with the times
Reflections from the editor
Former MP continues work on derelict boats issue John Weston to highlight Bowen Island efforts in testimony about Bill C-64
MERIBETH DEEN EDITOR
Happy commuters head to work on Peter King’s express bus on Tuesday morning.
Peter King, photo
Bowen celebrates Queen of Capilano’s return MERIBETH DEEN EDITOR
At 5:20am on Wednesday February 7, the Queen of Capilano departed Horseshoe Bay for Snug Cove for the first time in more than a month. The ferry was supposed to be back on duty starting on February 4th, but sea-trials the day before revealed the need to replace one of the bearings that moves the boat’s propeller. “We had to order the part and then replace it,” says BC Ferries spokesperson Darin Guenette. “It was a two-day job that had to be done.” Guenette says that while the Bowen Queen, the replacement ferry on route #8, is due for retirement in the next couple of years, BC Ferries has not yet decided what it will be replaced with. A plan for a replacement during the next refit period (January 2020) also needs to be created. “By this time next year we should have a good idea of what we are going to do,” says Guenette. “If the replacement vessel is one with a smaller capacity we will try to come up with a plan that minimizes the impact for Bowen Islanders.”
Guenette adds that while he does not have any statistics demonstrating the effectiveness of BC Ferries’ efforts to make the re-fit period easier for people going from Bowen and back, his numbers show the ferry being full on just about all commuter runs. The express bus between Horseshoe Bay and downtown has enjoyed increased ridership during this period, with operator and driver Peter King having his highest level of ridership since the express bus started running in 2015. “On Monday, we had 192 riders on the bus,” says King. “I think this re-fit period was harder on people than the last, because prior to 2015, the Queen of Capilano was smaller so the change wasn’t as big. It has been good for the express bus though, as we’ve definitely generated more ridership.” King says his next goal, to improve the experience of express bus riders, is to provide a seamless ticketing experience by getting approval for the use Compass Cards on the bus. Ferry Marshall Jewal Maxwell has expressed her relief concerning the return of the Queen of Capilano, and will be awarded with a certificate of appreciation at council next week.
In November of 2017, federal Transportation Minister Marc Garneau introduced Bill C-64 to the House of Commons to prohibit vessel abandonment, picking up where a private member’s bill submitted by former West Vancouver Sea to Sky MP John Weston left off. Weston, a Conservative, says he supports the new bill and is heading to Ottawa next week to comment on it before MPs vote on it for a third time. Weston says the creation of his private members bill, Bill C-695, which stopped moving forward with the 2015 federal election, was shaped largely by his work with Bowen Islander Bruce Russel and Bowen’s Municipal Manager of Parks and Environment, Bonny Brokenshire. “I spent a lot of time, as the MP for West Vancouver Sea to Sky, paddling around on Mannion Bay with Bruce and Bonny,” says Weston. “I am very happy to see that this issue has been picked up again, and to see that not just my work, but the work of a number of people, was not done in vain.” The background information included with Bill C-64 outlines the problems associated with abandoned vessels, including environmental damage and blemishing the sea-scape. Weston says these problems were very much alive in the Sea to Sky riding when he was MP, and “people were at their wits end.” Weston adds that alongside conversations with Russell and Brokenshire, as well as visits to Mannion Bay, one of the key influences in the creation of Bill C-695 was environmental activist Eoin Finn from Bowyer Island. “Mr. Finn was a harsh critic on Conservative environmental policies, overly so, I would say,” recalls Weston. “But one day we were standing next to one another and he suggested slapping the offender of this violation with fines and encarceration. This became the core of my proposal, and personal responsibility became the underlying value in Bill C-695.” This was the first time the idea of imposing jail times for abandoning vessels was proposed in Canada, and Weston says he is pleased to see Bill C-64 includes that specific aspect. continued P3