Thank you, Mr. Chair.
It's instructive to hear our colleagues across outline what their objections are, because if we apply just the slightest bit of pressure, we start to see their argument fraying at the seams.
As a basic reminder to our colleagues, BC Ferries is a provincial entity. It is a corporation, the primary shareholder of which is the Government of British Columbia. It does not report to the federal Minister of Transport.
It's an unfortunate, and indeed a somewhat alarming, precedent to suggest that federal agencies and entities, especially those that are intended to operate at arm's length from government, should in fact be pulled into this political bickering and be made, ultimately, a punching bag for other purposes.
The agenda of our Conservative colleagues is very clear, and they're on the record about this. They are demanding the cancellation of a loan—and I'll return to that in a moment—that is utterly essential to BC Ferries' ability to continue to provide a critical service on the west coast of this country, but this is really just a Trojan Horse for the broader agenda. It's been very clearly articulated that the Conservative Party wishes for the abolition of the entire Canada Infrastructure Bank. BC Ferries is being used as a vehicle to advance a broader agenda, which is a multi-year vendetta against a federal entity that, as we speak, is in the midst of funding critical investments in infrastructure across this country.
The CIB is a federal agency, but it also does not report to the federal Minister of Transport, so both of the arm's-length agencies at issue in this matter are not, in fact, accountable to the former minister—who my colleagues opposite are demanding return to this committee.
It is, I think, somewhat confusing if we interrogate the fact that this is a loan. The money that the Canada Infrastructure Bank independently decided to allocate towards BC Ferries to support their investment in fleet renewal is a loan that will be repaid with interest. That is the business model of the Canada Infrastructure Bank. This entire project is not one that will cost Canadian taxpayers money in the long run. It is, in fact, an initiative that will generate benefit to the public purse and, in the process, of course, will provide improvements to a service that is completely critical in my part of the country.
In that respect, I will simply underscore again a point I've made in this committee previously: We are playing politics here with a service that British Columbians rely upon and that my constituents in Victoria require for daily life. This is not just an abstract matter. This is what gets food and essential goods to Vancouver Island, home to more than 800,000 Canadians. This is a service that underpins the economy of western Canada. This is a service that provides 33 million rides every year, dwarfing by an order of magnitude the total number of passengers who ride passenger ferries in Atlantic Canada on an annual basis.
There are indeed issues related to BC Ferries that I would be very keen for this committee to take up, not least of which is the inequitable funding afforded to ferries on the west coast as compared to those used by our Atlantic Canadian cousins. The issue at hand here is really using for political expedience something British Columbians cannot afford to have delayed and undermined.
Therefore, on behalf of my constituents in Victoria and my colleagues who represent a majority of British Columbians, this is a political exercise we're engaging in. It is using something we rely on in British Columbia in service to a broader political objective of our Conservative colleagues: to undermine and ultimately destroy a federal agency that is providing funds to the benefit of the federal taxpayer in British Columbia and elsewhere across Canada. I don't think it's appropriate, and I don't think we should indulge in it.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.