What I hear from my members is that we want to see public money not being sent overseas when it could help rebuild a Canadian industry. If this was really about urgency, BC Ferries would have acted when this process began in 2017.
Our ask, again, is simple. If taxpayers are paying for it, the benefits should stay here. Good jobs, technical skills and local supply chains will deliver parts quickly and more effectively. This means that, in the long term, there will be a better service for British Columbians, and repairs on ships and ship consistency will be better over the duration. We're looking at vessels that have been running for, right now, 40 to 60 years in the water. Those are British Columbia-made vessels. If we want vessels that are going to last a long time, we would continue to build them in British Columbia and in Canada.