The number of ferries that have been serving the coast of B.C. hasn't changed in decades, while the population has grown. That means that the capacity on those vessels has been getting more and more dramatic or full, if you want to put it that way. The system hasn't been planned for the future in the way that it probably should have been. The population increase hasn't been a surprise, and vessels get older every year. This isn't a crisis of vessel age; it's a shortfall with regard to planning. To suggest that we are now at a crisis point is only highlighting the failure of the leadership of the quasi private-public BC Ferries model. It has been more than 20 years since it has been a public-private process, and it hasn't benefited British Columbians in the way that it should. That doesn't mean that we should quickly run away from domestic production in favour of quick and cheap.
