As the Herald insists island communities deserve ferry services that are fit for purpose how they get 10 TIMES the subsidy for their ferries than those in more affluent British Columbia, to keep fares amongst the lowest in the developed world

Professor John Robertson OBA

From Richmond News 24 April 2025:

Right now, B.C. Ferries, which according to the union carries more than 21 million passengers and $8 billion in cargo each year, receives about $35 million annually from Ottawa.1

BC Ferries has 41 vessels serving 47 locations to 21 million passengers per year.2

CalMac has 36 vessels serving 50 locations to only 5.3 million passengers per year.3

Yet the Scottish Government, from taxpayers living in places like Glasgow, Kilmarnock, Coatbridge and Dundee, will be a bit more generous than BC:

Transport Scotland is proposing a total subsidy of £3.7 billion over a 10-year period for CalMac Ferries Limited to deliver lifeline ferry services under the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services (CHFS) contract.4

This is 10 times the level of support in a country with only half the GDP of British Columbia.

This is why Scotland’s islanders, contrary to the media lies, get the most frequent, cheapest, safest, most reliable ferry service in the world, in the stormiest seas of any ferry service and to give life to the tiniest of communities who’d get no service at all in harder-nosed parts of the world.

The constant negative reporting of CalMac is a disgusting, dishonest, shameless and cynical campaign by politicians, media and just a few entitled recently arrived islanders to undermine the SNP in government.

Sources:

  1. https://www.richmond-news.com/transportation/ferry-workers-union-calls-for-more-federal-funding-for-bc-ferries-10562754
  2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BC_Ferries
  3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caledonian_MacBrayne
  4. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/report-on-the-proposed-subsidy-to-calmac-ferries-limited-by-transport-scotland
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11 thoughts on “As the Herald insists island communities deserve ferry services that are fit for purpose how they get 10 TIMES the subsidy for their ferries than those in more affluent British Columbia, to keep fares amongst the lowest in the developed world”

  3. The ” entitled recently arrived islanders ” is a bit OTT, even if some are involved in this ” disgusting, dishonest, shameless and cynical campaign “.

    I’d hazard that the vast majority of islanders are perfectly happy with the ferry service and subsidies, it’s invariably those in the business community featuring in this propaganda campaign, who are always more interested in profits.

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    1. Hi Bob

      ‘entitled recently arrived islanders?’

      I’m not making these people up.

      One on Mull described CalMac as the worst in the world and suggested they learn for other parts. We have now!

      Also, they (not just English but retired affluent urban Scots) are actively distorting the narrative to misrepresent the view of the majority of islanders, as in the surveys.

      John

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      1. I’m not disagreeing John, it’s the “some” I was getting at.
        There will be a helluva lot more of both origins who enjoy island life just as it is, life at the pace the islanders enjoy, ‘the ferry will come when it comes’ sort of thing.

        Striking the balance between what the locals want and the pace of change needed is always tricky, but business minded people ever look to profits first even if it destroys the charm of island life in the process, the very attraction which brings tourists….
        ike the islands just they are becausepersuasions

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  4. Pingback: Jersey Island supermarkets pay nearly SIX times as much for their lorries to cross as those in Barra thanks to SNP generosity – Talking-up Scotland
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