Many small communities here on BC's left coast saw demostrations at BC Ferry terminals. Occupy Powell River's Call to Action states in part that 70% of British Columbians voiced anger at being priced out of their own transit system. Families can't afford to visit each other for the holidays, seniors miss their medical appointments and are stuck sitting with pets on the car deck, tourists avoid the coast altogether, visiting the Interior where the ferries are not only optional, but free of charge.
BC's ferries are part of the highway system, they are a necessity-not a luxury-to thousands of coastal residents. BC's residents of generations past and present have built the ferry system through taxes and hard work just as they have built the rest of the highway system. But by an accounting mirage the Campbellites morphed this public asset into a corporation who now ranks finances over services and seeks to eliminate ferry subsidies altogether. As lond as The Coastal Ferry Act is in force taxpayers will increasingly pay more and more.
Up and down the West Coast the many local issues blended seamlessly with the broader issues of the 99% campaign and the worldwide class struggle pitting the havenots at the gates against the haves within their walls of entitlement.
