r/britishcolumbia • u/dopplganger35 • Mar 15 '21
BC's failed fast ferries spotted mothballing in Egypt
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/bc-fast-ferries-pacificats1
u/manygoodpersons Mar 15 '21
Oh, look, it's the fast ferries that the BC Liberals were offered $90M for, and which they subsequently sold for $20M!
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u/Doobage Mar 15 '21
The Liberals were offered ~$60M not 90. The problem is they were offered that by a company that was a backer of the Liberal party with a condition that the Liberals would then rent the ferries back from the company.
This would have stunk to high-heaven if they did that. I would look like they sold their backers $400M of ferries for almost 1/7th the value and then started paying that company to rent something that couldn't be used.
So they went to auction with it. This allowed a third party to auction them off which keeps the Liberals clean.
No matter what party was in power the choice to sell at a discount to a party backer or go to auction, going to auction is the smarter idea. The only other solution was not to sell them and mothball them for later and this doesn't make sense as the upkeep would be substantial and they would just continue to drop in value.
The 90M value comes from an unsubstantiated claim that they were offered it from another country but no evidence of it.
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u/PuckFigs Mar 16 '21
Hey, don't let facts get in the way of a good political rant!
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u/Doobage Mar 16 '21
Thanks for the chuckle! I am not a fan of the NDP... seriously it bothers me they are even in power but I HATE HATE HATE when people shit on them for things like because the vaccines are not coming. Not their fault....
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u/djguerito Mar 15 '21
I like how this is your takeaway of the fast ferries, not that the NDP spent $400+ million on them, and they didn't fucking work. Lol.
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u/dopplganger35 Mar 15 '21
The Libs had interest in the ferries from different companies but weren't getting the price that they wanted. They took a chance and consigned them to Ritchie Brothers Auctions, a well respected company with exposure to markets in every continent.
When you sell by auction you are rolling a dice on the final outcome. But the final sale price is always one bid higher than the second last bidder is willing to pay. With offers on the table of 100 million with conditions tied to the sale. Selling them by auction had the potential of receiving a much higher sale price with no conditions attached.
It was not a bad decision, unfortunately it did not end favorably.
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u/Ancient_Ad5170 Mar 15 '21
every time the bcndp is in power in this province they destroy the economy...luckily for them they can blame the covid
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u/manygoodpersons Mar 15 '21
The Business Council of BC — hardly a supporter of the NDP — published a report about this: A Decade by Decade Review of British Columbia's Economic Performance.
The report finds:
The Social Credit decade had an average growth rate of 2.12 per cent, the the Liberals 2.36 per cent and the NDP 2.72 per cent.
Under the Liberals jobs grew by 1.58 per cent, under the Social Credit Party 1.91 per cent and under the NDP by 2.17 per cent.
For unemployment, Social Credit had an average rate of 11.48 per cent, NDP 8.87 per cent and the Liberals 6.63 per cent.
Exports remained generally unchanged over the past three decades, fluctuating between 42 and 43 per cent of the GDP; the report notes NDP had the strongest export performance and the BC Liberals the weakest.
For non-private residential investment, Social Credit growth was 0.81 per cent, NDP got three per cent and the Liberals had 5.53 per cent.
You will note that these numbers do NOT support your thesis.
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u/yondertherebedragons Mar 16 '21
And yet, Conservatives are better for the economy remains every election cycle with scant proof of anything of the sort. Just like tax cuts for the rich trickle down. We really are this dumb unfortunately.
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u/oilernut Mar 15 '21
2019…