Close X
Friday, January 17, 2025
ADVT 
National

'We have no back road': Panic in tiny Kootenay towns as B.C. ferry strike escalates

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 30 Dec, 2024 04:36 PM
  • 'We have no back road': Panic in tiny Kootenay towns as B.C. ferry strike escalates

A sense of panic is growing in tiny southeast British Columbia communities around Kootenay Lake over fears they will be cut off from their neighbours and jobs by an escalating ferry service labour dispute, says a local businesswoman.

The West Kootenay communities of Harrop, Procter and Glade could see their cable ferry service reduced after a B.C. Labour Relations Board ruling permitted expansion of a strike that has already limited sailings on the major Kootenay Lake routes.

For some residents, the only alternative to the cable ferry routes that run a few hundred metres across the narrow lake is an hours-long drive, while other residents fear being cut off completely.

"Everybody's panicked here," said Melinda Foot, co-owner of the Procter General Store.

"It's a five-minute crossing that takes us over to all the rest of our communities, Nelson, Balfour," she said Monday. "The ferry we're taking here is our only exit. We have no back road. We have no logging road. We have nothing over here beyond this tiny little convenience store."

B.C. General Employees' Union workers have been on strike since Nov. 3, seeking wage increases, scheduling adjustments and extended benefits for auxiliary workers from employer Western Pacific Marine.

The labour board on Friday granted the union approval to reduce service of the Harrop-Procter ferry to eight round trips daily and 16 round trips for the Glade ferry, with the decision effective Monday.

The Harrop ferry usually runs on a 24-hour on-demand schedule, while the Glade ferry's regular schedule is 5 a.m. to 2:20 a.m. 

Western Pacific Marine says on its website that the ferries will run as usual until Jan. 2. A new schedule for the rest of January "and onwards" will be posted late Tuesday, it says.

"They keep telling us there will be a schedule of eight crossings but they won't tell us what that schedule is," Foot said. "People are in fear of losing their jobs. They're trying to put boats in the water and cross our water in the dark, in January."

About 600 people live in the Harrop-Procter area and about 300 people live in Glade, the labour board ruling said.

The decision to grant the union's application to "adjust" service levels and amend an essential service order for the cable ferries serving Harrop, Procter and Glade will have an impact on residents, but still maintains protection of community health and welfare, said labour board associate chair Andres Barker in the 15-page ruling.

"The amendments to the ESO contained in this decision will no doubt have some effect on the residents who rely on the ferry, and that may include some economic impacts and the inconvenience of planning set departure and arrival times like a typical ferry service despite previously being able to come and go at will," he said.

"However, I am satisfied that, based on the evidence currently before me, the levels established are those necessary or essential to prevent immediate and serious danger to the health, safety, and welfare of the residents of British Columbia."

MORE National ARTICLES

Liberals look to move past leadership drama with eye on next campaign

Liberals look to move past leadership drama with eye on next campaign
Longtime Liberal operative Andrew Bevan was named the new national campaign director two weeks ago and made his first presentation to the full caucus during the weekly meeting. The next election must be held by Oct. 20, 2025, but it could come much sooner. The Conservatives and Bloc Québécois have pledged to try to bring down the minority government this fall.

Liberals look to move past leadership drama with eye on next campaign

PM says he's trying to get Poilievre names of Tories linked to foreign interference

PM says he's trying to get Poilievre names of Tories linked to foreign interference
Earlier this month, Trudeau told a public inquiry that he has been given the names of past and present Conservative parliamentarians and candidates who are linked to foreign interference. Trudeau said members from other parties, including the Liberals, have also been flagged.

PM says he's trying to get Poilievre names of Tories linked to foreign interference

B.C. judge halts the medically assisted death of Alberta woman

B.C. judge halts the medically assisted death of Alberta woman
A British Columbia judge has granted an injunction stopping a woman's medically assisted death, the day before it was scheduled to take place in Vancouver.  The injunction granted on Saturday to the woman's common-law partner prevents Dr. Ellen Wiebe or any other medical professional from helping end the life of the 53-year-old Alberta woman within 30 days.

B.C. judge halts the medically assisted death of Alberta woman

Drug-trafficking investigation leads to charges against 19 people in northern B.C.

Drug-trafficking investigation leads to charges against 19 people in northern B.C.
Federal prosecutors have approved charges against 19 people, eight of them still at large, after an investigation into what police call a violent drug trafficking network in northeastern British Columbia. A statement from B.C.'s Combined Special Forces Enforcement Unit says two of the 11 people who were arrested remain in custody, while the others have been released with conditions as they move through the judicial process.

Drug-trafficking investigation leads to charges against 19 people in northern B.C.

Seizure of cannabis outside prison

Seizure of cannabis outside prison
Canada's Correctional Service says officials recently seized 70-thousand-dollars' worth of cannabis from outside a federal prison in B-C's Fraser Valley.  The service says it happened last Thursday along the perimeter of the medium-security Mountain Institution outside Agassiz, northeast of Chilliwack.

Seizure of cannabis outside prison

B.C. NDP must 'adapt,' 'build bridges,' says Surrey MLA now nicknamed 'Comeback Kid'

B.C. NDP must 'adapt,' 'build bridges,' says Surrey MLA now nicknamed 'Comeback Kid'
Garry Begg's slim win over the B.C. Conservative candidate in Surrey-Guildford is still subject to a judicial recount, but for now his win gives the NDP the 47 seats needed to form a majority government in British Columbia's 93-seat legislature.

B.C. NDP must 'adapt,' 'build bridges,' says Surrey MLA now nicknamed 'Comeback Kid'