BC Ferries

Hurricane-force winds of up to 159 km/h have slammed into parts of the British Columbia Coast as a massive storm swirling off Vancouver Island severed highways and cut power to about 225,000 people.

With a $75-million loan announced last week, BC Ferries will be purchasing its first four ships run only on electric propulsion power.

BC Ferries has launched a bid to build up to seven green flagship vessels but climate groups are urging the company to abandon liquified natural gas to fuel ships and speed electrification of its fleet to reach its emissions targets.

Today is day two of a 48-hour strike launched by more than 180 unionized transit supervisors after contract talks with the Coast Mountain Bus Company broke down over the weekend. 

BC Ferries’ drive to reduce emissions appears to be at a standstill, but a lack of government funding has sunk the original plan to wean the Island Class fleet off diesel. 

The provincial ferry service is crafting a security plan after a rise in aggression at public events and someone at a recent meeting issuing “a threat to the effect that if BC Ferries didn't make changes, the individual would take a gun to everyone.”

"Oh, my God. How long am I going to have to wait?” wondered Carol Woolsey, 77, after she dialled 911 for a medical emergency and heard no local paramedics were available in her island community.

BC Ferries just got $500 million in funding to keep fares low and help electrify its fleet, but critics say the provincial announcement was heavy on climate rhetoric and light on concrete details or commitment.

British Columbia's financial status will not be as rosy as it has been over the past year, says Finance Minister Katrine Conroy, who will table the New Democrat government's budget on Tuesday.

Quadra Islanders braved lashing wind and rain this past week to bid farewell to the queen that dictated many aspects of their lives and reigned over their B.C. coastal community for decades. 

After 100 years of absence, large numbers of Pacific white-sided dolphins are back in the northern part of British Columbia's Salish Sea.

With local crew shortages impacting BC Ferries' ability to transport ambulances overnight, Quadra Island residents fear BC Emergency Health Services is leaving them stranded in medical emergencies.

A "perfect storm" of Omicron, labour shortages and vaccination resistance is expected to impact service to ferry-dependent communities on the B.C. coast.

Rachel Blaney, North Island-Powell River’s NDP MP, has written to Transport Minister Marc Garneau questioning the logic of potentially fining people up to $12,000 when they are heeding public health orders to keep their contact with other people to a minimum.

Island residents will no longer board BC Ferries before tourists after the B.C. government revised the COVID-19 emergency order Thursday.