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General News · 4th March 2014
Ester Strijbos
Ferry protest demonstration, March 11th, Victoria

Catch the bus for only $10
Volunteer billets on Quadra for the one or two nights (March 10 and 11)


Join the event

Bring your voices, your placards and your energy to the Legislature lawn to tell Premier Christy Clark to:

• Immediately put service cuts and fare increases on hold; and

• Bring BC Ferries back under government control to lower fares, improve service and ensure BC Ferries operates as a vital public transportation service with a mandate to operate as a critical economic generator for all of BC.

Buy your bus ticket in the stores ($10) or online ($11)!
(click on the "donate button" on the top right and donate $11, your ticket will be available for pickup on Saturday in Cortes store of choice)

Available for pre-purchase until Friday 6 pm, pick up tickets on Sturday, Sunday or Monday at the store you signed up & paid)
After Friday 6 pm tickets only available on Quadra Island

Walk on the ferry at 6:00 am
The bus leaves from Campbell River at 6:15 and returns the same day, hopefully before the 6.15 evening ferry, but billets are available if it runs late.
Volunteer billets on Quadra for the one or two nights


Contact person for billets is: Pat
1-250-285-3790


Form Quadra Island Michael Stahnke

Our community is coming together in unified opposition to the proposed fare increases and service cuts with resolve that is admirable and remark- able. Generous donations from Island- ers have made it possible to greatly reduce bus ticket prices and provide more buses, and are making it possible for organizers to develop a real kick-ass demonstration.
The most essential element for this demonstration to be what it needs to be — a resounding show of opposition and defiance to those who are bent on creating greater challenges for our Discovery Islands community and all coastal communities — is a big crowd. We need to be there.
The December consultation, attended by well over 500 people, was a ruse and an insult. BC Ferries knew well in advance what they intended to do. Coming here was, as everybody knows, the sham to legitimize their intentions. The insult was that they knew we knew and they didn’t care.
That was the best meeting ever on this island. Some people would argue that we lost. I don’t think so. We got angry, and I hope we still are. That’s what we need; that’s what will cause people to pay attention. That’s why we’re going to victoria; that’s why we need each other to be there. We’re fed up and we’re not going to take it anymore.
Tickets for the bus will be available starting this Wednesday, February 19th and can be had for a donation of $10 or more. Tickets will be available at Hum- mingbird, Heidi’s Java Bay Cafe, and at the community lunch.
Bus riders must be at the Cove ter- minal at 6:00 am — walk on the ferry, and board the buses in Campbell River. The protest will start when we get to
victoria and runs until 1:30. We will be back for the 6:15 sailing. People driving to the Cove please carpool. Cortes and Read Island residents please join us.
Donations other than for bus tickets are still being accepted. They can be made to the Ferry Demonstra- tion account at the Credit union, or to me, Pat Lowes, Gloria Rolfsen, or Susan Westren.
We have three comfortable coach buses available, and we need to fill them. When they are full we will get another, and we will also arrange car- pools.
march 11 is a workday, so unfor- tunately some people can’t come with us. For those who can, please make the effort. We need each other.
Let’s do our best to convince gov- ernment to stop the cuts, reduce the fares, and return the ferry service to the Department of Highways. We will not quit. This is our home.