The B.C. Liberals are desperately in need of a dose of “Olympic” spirit. Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon and the government’s hand-picked B.C. Ferries executives have adopted a new slogan for our province, “No, we can’t.”

B.C. Ferries, for the first time ever, has decided to build two, perhaps three, super C-class ferries outside of British Columbia. According to the corporation and the B.C. Liberal government, B.C. shipyards are not capable of building the new ferries. Instead, taxpayers’ dollars will be sent to Europe to help support government-subsidized industries and create wealth abroad.

The decision will have a significant negative impact on the shipbuilding industry and more broadly on the provincial economy. B.C. is losing more than 2,000 jobs and $500 million in local investment. It is not just unionized workers whose incomes are at stake. Building a ferry requires lots of specialized small business support — from plumbing to carpeting to upholstery to electrical contractors.

In fact, the “multiplier” effect to the economy, used so often by Premier Gordon Campbell when discussing projects he likes such as the 2010 Olympics, is particularly high in shipbuilding. Marine workers and related businesses will also spend their money in B.C., creating more economic benefits especially for small business.

Another major loser will be governments and taxpayers themselves. The income and sales taxes paid by B.C.-based shipbuilding companies and their workers will return tens of millions of dollars to governments at the federal, provincial and local government. Apparently, Campbell and Falcon would rather support services in Berlin or Helsinki.

The decision will also aggravate the skills shortage. Already, the government eliminated ITAC, the province’s successful apprenticeship program, and lowered standards for training. Eighty per cent of apprenticeship training takes place on the job, on projects such as building ferries. By moving ferry construction offshore, the Liberals are eliminating apprenticeship opportunities and keeping young people out of specialized trades.

This policy is self-fulfilling. Eventually, B.C.’s shipbuilding will not be able to build ferries, because the government has decided to build ferries elsewhere. If young workers are not trained and shipyards do not get the work, eventually our province will have no option but to go offshore to build the 18 new ferries we require over the next 15 years.

And it won’t just hurt the shipbuilding industry. There is a skills shortage in all of the trades, partly driven by this government’s decisions. The construction of ferries in B.C. will help train the workforce we need to prepare for the 2010 Olympics and projects across the province in the future.

The decision to abandon shipyards is a direct consequence of the government decision to transform B.C. Ferries into an “independent” Crown corporation. The main purpose of this transformation is not really to make B.C. Ferries more efficient. The idea is to make the Corporation less accountable to the traveling public and ratepayers.

For example, executive compensation has increased dramatically. Freedom of Information laws no longer apply to the “new” B.C. Ferries.

The public may never know the financial and technical basis for the decision to build in Europe.

Most importantly, the corporation does not have to consider the impact of its decisions on its shareholder, the citizens of B.C. For B.C. Ferries management, it is irrelevant that the decision to spend taxpayers’ money in Europe will harm the B.C. economy. It is irrelevant that it will exacerbate the skills shortage. Under the new set-up at B.C. Ferries, executives are in effect encouraged to ignore the public interest in making decisions.

This is the worst of all possible worlds — worse even than a fully privatized company. It’s a heavily subsidized Crown corporation that is totally unaccountable to its shareholder, a private taxpayer-supported playpen for government appointees.

Finally, the Liberals’ declaration that B.C. companies, workers and contractors are “inefficient” and incapable of building new ferries sends a horrible message around the world. It is unprecedented that a B.C. government would choose to trash our province’s reputation in an attempt to defend a “blatantly stupid” decision.

The government is trying to prove our industry’s incompetence in a vain attempt to escape duties on importing the European-built ferries. These duties could cost ratepayers $125 million.

The assertion is false. Our shipyard workers, carpenters, engineers and shipbuilders are second to none. They deserve the endorsement of our government and Crown agencies, the very support that shipbuilders in Europe receive from their representatives.

Every ship in the B.C. Ferries fleet has been built or re-fitted here. Shipyards such as Vancouver Shipyards are more than capable of doing this work. In fact, Vancouver Shipyards was the low bidder on a recent tender to build a new ferry to Bowen Island. B.C. Ferries chose to cancel the tender rather than build the ferry here.

There is still time to force the Liberals to back down. Building ferries in B.C. makes financial and economic sense for our province. To paraphrase the premier himself, we need to convince our government to turn “we can’t” into “we can.”