Vancouver Island MP, residents call for fair federal ferry funding

Feds not providing equal subsidies for the east and west coast ferries, MP Gord Johns says

Vancouver Island residents are calling on the federal government to increase subsidies for west coast ferry customers, in an effort to make fares equal to what people are paying in Atlantic Canada.

Courtenay-Alberni MP Gord Johns says coastal communities continue to feel the impact of rising ferry costs.

Laura Aitken has lived in Parksville for 15 years and attended a rally in her community on Monday. She says ferries are unaffordable; she and her husband spend about $10,000 each year commuting to Vancouver for seasonal film work.

Stories like Aitken's are why Johns is mobilizing residents with a week’s worth of rallies calling on the federal government for support.

Johns says federal funding for ferries is not being dolled out equally between the coasts.

In B.C., the province covers about $500 million — about 24 per cent of operating costs — to help keep fares low, Johns says. Through a Transport Canada grant, the federal government kicks in another $38 million, about three per cent of costs, he adds.

More stories from Vancouver Island

Meanwhile, he says, the east coast ferry system gets $350 million contributed by the feds, through Transport Canada's Ferry Services Contribution Program, covering 43 per cent of costs.

That works out to $291 per passenger in Atlantic Canada, compared to $1.64 per person in B.C.

The B.C. Ferry & Marine Workers' Union and Premiere David Eby have all cited the same numbers in their advocacy for improved funding for B.C. Ferries.

The CEO of B.C. Ferries has warned the company may need to increase fares by 30 per cent or more in 2028, when the current fare structure expires, if more funding can't be secured.

Johns doesn’t want to see the East Coast get less, but says the West Coast could use a little help.

Johns says the original agreement between the federal and provincial governments was signed nearly 50 years ago, when Vancouver Island had a population that was a fraction of what it is today.

“These taxpayers pay the same amount of tax here on the West Coast, just like they do the East Coast,” Johns said.

“We support every dollar spent ... supporting people in Atlantic Canada. All we want is some fairness.”

Aitken says she first learned about the disparity in federal subsidies through Johns’s outreach in the last few months, and finds it "terribly unfair."

Diane Anderson is a senior who has been living in Qualicum Beach for seven years and says that ferries can be unaffordable for anyone outside of the top five per cent.

“My family and the people around me are terribly impacted by the cost, it’s way too high, and we do need subsidies,” she said at Monday’s rally.

Both signed an online petition calling for action, which Johns says has surpassed over 500 signatures.

Transport Canada was asked about funding for western ferries compared to eastern in a Q&A about financing for new B.C. Ferries vessels last year.

The federal government was asked why B.C. is "short-changed compared to ferry services in Eastern Canada," according to a transcript posted online Aug. 1, 2025.

In response, the feds said "the Government has supported ferry services across Canada through measures such as removing tariffs on the importation of vessels as well as making ferries and related infrastructure eligible for federal funding under major infrastructure programs such as the New Building Canada Fund."

More rallies are planned in Comox, Powell River, Vancouver and Victoria, before concluding in Nanaimo on Thursday.