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Government control of ferries crucial for B.C. taxpayers

Does the toll money return to the people? No.

Re: B.C. Ferries should be run as a business by businesspeople (Letters, Feb. 10)

Mr. Smith writes, “let the government govern and businessmen run business because history shows you can’t do both.”

He’s unintentionally correct. Ferries are in lieu of roads which are needed to connect people for business and recreational purposes. All you have to do is look at the Province of Ontario’s major mistake in leasing its crucial Highway 407ETR north of Toronto to a consortium led by a Spanish company.

Highway 407ETR, which bypasses the 401 (running through the Greater Toronto Area) for anyone driving west, has a toll on it.

Does the toll money return to the people of Ontario? No. And the toll steadily has increased over the years. Private interests took advantage of a naive provincial government. Our routes of roads and ferries must be controlled by government.

Kathryn Haughton

Oak Bay