When BC Ferries CEO Nicolas Jimenez appeared before the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) board of directors this week, he delivered an admission that cuts to the heart of the NDP's infrastructure record: the provincial government โ€” not BC Ferries โ€” is the reason coastal communities are falling behind.

"When it comes to the changes you want to see in the system, we're a great place to start," Jimenez told the board. "But we don't make the final decisions."

Those final decisions belong to the Eby government. And for years, those decisions have meant an aging fleet, chronic service failures, and a fifth ferry requested โ€” and denied.

The 5th Ferry That Never Came

BC Ferries formally requested approval for a fifth vessel to serve the Sunshine Coast. The provincial government did not approve it. Four ships were approved; the fifth was not. That refusal sits at the centre of the service crisis now plaguing communities from Gibsons to Powell River.

Jimenez acknowledged at the SCRD meeting that "an aging fleet and infrastructure have prevented BC Ferries from growing alongside the coastal communities it serves." That is not an accident. It is the result of decisions made โ€” and not made โ€” by the provincial government over years of NDP management of one of BC's most critical pieces of public infrastructure.

BC Ferries Crisis: Key Facts

  • BC Ferries requested a 5th ferry for Sunshine Coast service โ€” request was not approved by the NDP government
  • Easter long weekend 2026: sailing chaos, water taxis recruited, passengers waiting hours
  • Mid-April 2026: multiple cancelled sailings on Sunshine Coast, attributed to mechanical failures
  • CEO admitted aging fleet has prevented growth alongside coastal communities
  • Community: "deeply felt need to re-establish a connection and relationship with BC Ferries"
  • CEO publicly acknowledged "more needs to be done" โ€” but deferred responsibility to the province

Easter Weekend: Communities Stranded on the Sunshine Coast

The most visible consequence of years of deferred investment came during the Easter long weekend of 2026. BC Ferries cancelled multiple sailings across Sunshine Coast routes, forcing the corporation to recruit water taxis to shuttle passengers who had already waited hours at terminals. For people trying to reach medical appointments, family, or their homes, it was not an inconvenience โ€” it was a failure of essential public service.

Then, two weeks after Easter, came a second wave: multiple additional cancellations in mid-April, again attributed to mechanical issues on vessels that are simply too old, too stressed, and too few.

"There's a deeply felt need in the community to re-establish a connection and relationship with B.C. Ferries."

โ€” Justine Gabias, Director, SCRD Area B (Halfmoon Bay), May 2026

That is an extraordinary statement about a crown corporation in a province with among the highest taxes in Canada. That BC Ferries โ€” a publicly owned utility that has operated since 1960 โ€” needs to re-establish a connection with the communities it exists to serve is an indictment of years of neglect.

"We Don't Make the Final Decisions"

The CEO's public admission before the SCRD board is the kind of candour that rarely escapes crown corporation boardrooms. Jimenez was explicit: capital plans, fleet upgrades, and funding decisions are not BC Ferries' to make. They require provincial government approval. The province sets the framework. The province approves the ships. The province decides whether the communities of the Sunshine Coast, the Gulf Islands, and Vancouver Island get the ferry service they need.

Under eight years of NDP government, that framework has produced an aging fleet that cannot handle demand, a fifth ship denied, and Easter weekend chaos that required water taxis as a stopgap for a 66-year-old ferry system.

At the SCRD meeting, Jimenez said he would welcome more regular community engagement sessions. Gibsons Mayor Silas White said he would try to restart a ferry advisory committee. These are constructive gestures. They do not replace the ships.

The Bigger Pattern

BC Ferries is not an isolated failure. It is part of a consistent pattern: the NDP government has cancelled or deferred $3.5 billion in capital infrastructure in its 2026 budget, including the Phase 2 Burnaby Hospital redevelopment and seven long-term care facilities. The excuse, each time, is the province's $13.3-billion record deficit โ€” a deficit the NDP itself created.

When you spend a decade in government and simultaneously rack up record debt while failing to approve a single additional ferry for one of Canada's most ferry-dependent communities, the conclusion is inescapable: BC's coastal communities are not a priority for David Eby's NDP.

They are, apparently, something to be managed with water taxis and a promise of more community engagement sessions.