VICTORIA — The head of BC Ferries welcomes plans to expand Canada’s shipbuilding industry, but said future vessel procurements must be “free from political interference” after lessons learned from the so-called fast ferry scandal of the 1990s.
Nicholas Jimenez, BC Ferries president, said his organization always prefers to build new ferries at home, but any financially responsible program must meet “certain realities,” including local shipbuilding capacities, fixed costs, guaranteed delivery dates, and an “open and competitive” process to avoid past mistakes.
“You have to have procurement processes that are open, that are competitive and free from political interference, and that is a direct learning from the past,” he
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