Transport committee meets to study BC Ferries' $1B loan for Chinese ships

The House of Commons transport committee is meeting today to look into the $1 billion loan BC Ferries received from the Canada Infrastructure Bank to finance the purchase of four new electric-diesel ships from a Chinese shipbuilder.

The committee agreed to launch a study after BC Ferries announced in June that it had hired China Merchants Industry Weihai Shipyards to build the new ships after a five-year procurement process that did not include a Canadian bid.

The Canada Infrastructure Bank contributed $1 billion to the deal and said in June that the new ferries "wouldn't likely be purchased" without this financing.

Housing and Infrastructure Minister Gregor Robertson, Transport Minister Chrystia Freeland and the CEOs of BC Ferries and the Canada Infrastructure Bank are set to testify at the meeting.

Dan Albas, Conservative transport critic and committee co-chair, requested the study and has asked questions about why $1 billion in public funds was earmarked to finance overseas shipbuilding in the middle of a trade war with the U.S.

Freeland sent her B.C. counterpart, Mike Farnworth, a letter in June saying she was "dismayed" that BC Ferries would choose a Chinese state-owned shipyard "in the current geopolitical context," and asking him to confirm that no federal funding would be diverted to purchase the ferries.