Rustad calls for BC Ferries to scrap Chinese vessel contract

No Canadian shipyards bid on the project, and the ferry company says the Chinese bid came in at about $1.2 billion cheaper than European competitors.

The leader of B.C.’s official Opposition is calling for the province to cancel BC Ferries’ multi-billion-dollar contract with a Chinese shipyard.

The ferry company has faced criticism from all sides since announcing this spring it would purchase its next four vessels from China Merchants Industry Weihai Shipyards (CMI Weihai) after a lengthy open bid process.

No Canadian shipyards bid on the project, and the ferry company says the Chinese bid came in at about $1.2 billion cheaper than European competitors.

BC Conservative Leader John Rustad said Tuesday that in the wake of China’s latest tariffs on Canada, the deal should be scrapped. China announced a 75.8 per cent tariff on Canadian canola products this week, expected to deliver a $5 billion hit to the industry.

Rustad said the Chinese move follows similar aggressive trade actions targeting Canadian seafood and wood pulp.

“I think we should break this contract. I think that we need to send a message. We want to be able to have a good trade relationship with China. We want be able make sure that we have the ability to do things, but you don’t reward a country that is quite frankly attacking other sectors of our economy,” Rustad said.

“I think there probably would be a penalty and quite frankly I think the board of BC Ferries should be fired for incompetence for actually putting us in this position in the first place.”

Rustad further accused the NDP government of “incompetence” for failing to work with local shipbuilders years ago to ensure they had the capacity to handle upcoming BC Ferries orders, and said if they were already fully committed to other projects the ferry company should have gone with “some of our allies” like Germany or Poland.