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48 candidates for positions of Mayor, Council, SCRD and School Board on the Sunshine Coast 2 candidates did not provide email address for election contact, so no email info listed on Civicinfo, and it was impossible to forward survey to them 6 candidates were acclaimed for their positions 16 candidates took the time and effort required to complete the survey Responses received are as follows (the number of candidates for each position): o Gibsons Mayor(2): Suzanne Senger Council (8): Silas White o Sechelt Mayor (3): John Henderson, Bruce Milne Council (15): Jon Bell, Darren Inkster, Terry Karkabe, Alice Lutes, Ed Steeves, Keith Thirkell o SCRD Area A: Acclaimed Area B: Acclaimed Area D (4): Mark Lebbell Area E (3): Robert Corlett, Lorne Lewis Area F (2): Ian Winn o School Board Area 1: Acclaimed, but Lori Pratt still responded to the survey Area 2 (5): Betty Baxter Gibsons: Acclaimed Sechelt: Acclaimed Baxter, Betty Bell, Jon Corlett, Robert Hendersond, John Inkster, Darren 1. Does BC Ferry service have an impact on the Coast? Yes x High cost x Unpredictable sailings Yes x Commuters relocating off coast x Housing prices dropping x Negative impact on tourism x New pricing for seniors limits travel and quality of life Yes x Poor treatment of commuters x Poor scheduling and last of on-‐
time service causes stress for users x Fares are deterrent to live here x Stagnant population growth x Real estate prices Yes x Getting to/from coast for business, personal, medical, travel, events in Vancouver x Tourists to coast x Supplies and services for Coast Yes x Less travel because of lack of affordability x Impacts commuters, school groups, fixed/low income people 2. Read the UBCM report? No Yes x Declining ridership with increased fares x Price changes exceed inflation x Excellent 1st step to roll back fares no 3. How would you support ferry improvements for your constituents? 4. What role for local government x Lobby govt x Lobby that it is a highway system x Work together to lobby govt x Not subsidize private corporation x Ferry is extension of highway x Not mandate of municipal govt system x Liaise with FAC x Support agenda items brought x Respond to recommendations forward by Ferry Advisory Comm. which might come before council x Govt subsidize private water taxi for service void 6. Frequency 5. of ferry Yrs travel per on Coa
year st 1-‐12 13-‐24 25+ 20 20 No x Understand that it was universally supported x Warning to BC Ferries about how their actions impact coastal communities x J.H. has established respectful relationship with BC Ferries CEO and staff, so would continue to meet with them for improvements x Encourage BC Ferries to improve Community Advisory consultation process ʹ meaningful dialogue x FAC to meet with public to gather feedback, provide suggestions for improvement x Write to Ministry of Transportation with specific concerns x Request meetings with Minister on ferry issues when possible x Need to represent citizens X X x Speak out on behalf of ferry users as already done with UBCM report x Gather input from constituents and provide to BCF x Strengthen District input mechanisms through establishment of Dist. Ferry Services committee x Dist. needs to develop plan for loss of ferry service in event of natural disaster x Local govt should take a very active part in improving ferry service x Healthy local economy depends on healthy, on-‐time ferry service x Occasional frustrations ďƵƚŝƚŝƐƚŚĞ͛ďŝŐƉŝĐƚƵƌĞ͛
that needs attention x Only positive experiences 60 Yes x Affordability x On time performance Positive/negative BC Ferry experiences X 11 X 37 X x Staff seem more engaged, helpful and happier x New automated measuring service x Experience card ʹ good x Holding cars back at gate when there is space onsite x Capacity reporting on web is often not accurate x Enjoy quality and safety x Support ferry workers Karkabe, Terry Lebbell, Mark Lewis, Lorne Lutes, Alice Milne, Bruce Pratt, Lori x Encourage Mayor to participate with Mayors Caucus for discussion on ferry service x Should be treated as a highway Yes ʹ scanned it x With the unanimous support, clearly demonstrates province wide support for the four recommendations x SCRD Board advocacy x Attend FAC meetings x Strong advocacy through Board and UBCM Yes x Restore it to the position it was in prior to Coastal Ferries Act x Continue to support ferry improvements as have done to this point Yes x Prices on goods because of ferry costs x Limitation on travel times for coast residents x High prices impact social and business opportunities for all Yes x Our lifeline to mainland x Employment, tourism, business, housing starts, medical visits, school outings all impacted x Need to continue to advocate for higher service levels and affordable fares Yes x Unaffordable for young families, retired people x Impacts tourism and businesses x Money that could go to building Sunshine Coast is used to subsidize unsustainable BCF business plan Yes x Economically x Socially x Quality of life No Yes x Social ʹ determines how often families can get together, what our leisure activities are x Economic-‐ personal cost and for products required on coast x Determines our pace of economic growth and development x Environmental ʹ cumulative impact on transportation options and use of ferries Yes x Decreased tourism, loss of $$ x Increased cost of goods No x Constant changes in schedules 40 15 no x Continue to lobby provincial govt x Need to be an advocate for our to put ferry back under provincial community to make the changes control we need x Make it part of highway system x Assist our community in directing x Need to be cognizant of where our efforts to Provincial cabinet organizational and constitutional authority resides and operates x Gather data which details the community position on ferry x Priority of local govt need to be service ʹ use for advocacy efforts local services ʹ but impact of BC ferry service is what would raise x Support a collaborative effort to this issue on priority list change the current model x Continue to advocate for fair, reliable service at reasonable X x Lobby provincial govt x Organize the public to stand up to govt x Partner with business community to have cohesive approach to x Employees go above and beyond in service x Frustrations with scheduling, delayed sailings, over-‐capacity, fare increases x Staff do a good job 34 Yes x Regular enhanced scheduling x Reduced fares x Reliable service 50+ X X x Staff do a wonderful job x Negative experiences with scheduling 28 X 20 X x Staff is friendlier than 20 years ago cost, that does not burden the taxpayer Senger, Suzanne Steeves, Ed Thirkell, Keith White, Silas Winn, Ian communicating with BC Ferries and govt x Do we need all the services on our route x Lobby provincial govt, working with local municipalities x Lobby provincial govt to declare essential service and fund in same way as other transportation x Recognize as highway x >ŽďďǇĨŽƌƌĞƚƵƌŶŽĨ^ĞŶŝŽƌƐ͛
discount x Need better maintenance protocols plus back-‐up capacity x In past chaired the Ferry Advisory x Local govts should work together Committee for 6 years, so have as one voice, along with MLA, good working knowledge of BCF FAC and BC Ferry Coalition ʹ take issue to prov govt x Would work with BC Ferry Coalition and FAC to effect change x lobby x local govt should be more proactive and engaging Yes x Unreliable and infrequent means residents waste time trying to connect with service x Costly service impacts travel frequency on ferries x Uneconomical to live on coast and commute for work x Depressed real estate prices Yes x Economy, tourism, transportation x People leaving coast or deciding not to move here Yes x Rollback of fares x Reinstituting the fare waiver for Seniors x Increasing frequency of sailings x Not addressed in report ʹ accountability for customer service Yes x Killing the coast! x In 25 years, service has decreased and costs skyrocketed Yes x impact on families x not staying on Coast, or coming here from other BC communities x fares and inconvenience of ferries No x Heard it was adopted unanimously Yes x increasing fares is drastically reducing ridership x should be funded as extension of our highway system x continuing advocacy as in past for impact on families Yes x tourism x commuters are not considering the coast because of fares/schedule/on-‐time No x fully support the recommendations and immediate implementation x lobby with other groups to x local govts should take a much provide a united voice of concern stronger position with BCF and provincial govt for implementation of UBCM report no x lobbying provincial govt x collecting experiences of local residents x speaking on behalf of community x Son arrived at ferry for last sailing which had been cancelled. No help for passenger 13 X 26 X 25 X 37 X 19 X x for the most part, service by ferry workers is positive x issues with corporate structure and government policy approach