VICTORIA — With residents in communities up and down the coast rising up against the B.C. Liberals’ reckless cuts to routes serving ferry-dependent communities, at least one government MLA is finally speaking up.

“West Vancouver-Sea to Sky MLA Jordan Sturdy failed to stand up for his constituents on Bowen Island who will lose 274 annual sailings, and Don McRae had nothing to say about cuts to routes in the Comox Valley, despite the fact that Denman Islanders will see a loss of 1,310 sailings to and from the island,” said New Democrat ferries critic Claire Trevena. “The only Liberal willing to point out how reckless and damaging these cuts are is from the Interior.”

Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA Donna Barnett is publicly questioning the Liberals’ reckless cut of the Discovery Coast route connecting Port Hardy, mid coast ports and Bella Bella. She told her local media, “Right now my concern is that cutting the ferry in 2014 will be devastating to the tourism industry and small businesses.”

“Unlike Minister Stone, I have attended many of the consultation meetings happening across this province, and I have seen the enormous frustration that people on the coast are feeling, and their very real fear about what these cuts will mean for the future of their communities,” said Trevena.

“That is why they are coming out in force to have their say – the government has been forced to relocate several of these meetings to larger venues to accommodate the overwhelming turnout. Did they not think people in these communities would have something to say about these devastating cuts?

“When is the transportation minister going to get the message that his reckless cuts will devastate coastal communities and hurt our province’s economy?”

Read MLA Donna Barnett’s full comments here: http://www.wltribune.com/news/233880791.html