One of British Columbia’s most powerful and important leaders is a woman few would recognize, but her accomplishments just keep piling up. And she was just named president of BC Ferries after a very successful stint as president of ICBC. The question is: can it change things?
Joy McPhail served as NDP cabinet minister in such crucial positions as health, finance and social services in the 1990s. She was also one of only two New Democrat MPs to survive the election crush of party by Gordon Campbell’s Liberal Party in 2001. She won her seat in 2001 by just 400 votes, but left her mark on the party in the following years by serving as interim leader and quietly and competently leading it back out of the political desert so that it becomes a political force again.
During his tenure as minister in the 1990s, notable accomplishments include building the iconic Vancouver Trade and Convention Center and starting the SkyTrain network. Since leaving politics in 2005, she has served on many public and private boards, including major hotels, social service providers like Covenant House in Vancouver, and as Vice President of the Squamish Nation’s Economic Development Corporation.
During McPhail’s five-year tenure as Chair of ICBC’s Board of Directors, she led the organization through one of the most dramatic reorganizations a Crown corporation has ever seen, moving from a litigation-based system to a care-based model that is estimated to save $1.5 billion per year. Although five years was indeed an eternity in politics when McPhail became president in 2017, ICBC was under constant attack and many British Columbians resented it. By the end of his term at ICBC this spring, insurance rates were falling, consumer sentiment toward ICBC was improving, and the NDP government could turn it into one of its greatest achievements.
However, there could be trouble on the horizon at ICBC as BC litigators plan to sue the government over the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in fees they once won. under the previous litigation-based model. But it won’t be on McPhail’s watch.
Joy McPhail is moving on to her next Herculean challenge as President of BC Ferries. Although technically an “independently-run public company” and not a Crown corporation, BC Ferries provides service to only one client: the Government of British Columbia. And the BC government must respond to the millions of people and tourists who use the company’s complex network of roads along the BC coast. BC Ferries serves as a de facto lifeline for millions of British Columbians whose health and livelihoods depend on its services, making it a massive political hot potato.
Named president on June 30, McPhail wasted no time planning a course correction. Within three weeks of his appointment, BC Ferries CEO Mark Collins was fired, after a series of canceled sailings left thousands of fare-paying passengers stranded and communities on Vancouver Island and Gulf Island in a tumult.
BC Ferries, like many companies in the transportation industry, is facing an unprecedented increase in travel that is straining its infrastructure. The increase in post-pandemic travel comes at the same time as staff shortages due to retirements, the time it takes to properly train replacements and increased Covid sick leave.
Operating one of the largest and most diverse ferry fleets in the world is a gargantuan task, but for the taxpayers of British Columbia who rely on the service, all those facts fade away if they are forced to endure last-minute cancellations that leave them stranded. Not to mention the hundreds of millions of dollars a year in tourism revenue that are at risk if recent severe service disruptions continue. Something must be done, and quickly.
If there’s anyone in BC who’s proven to turn around, it’s Joy McPhail. And she has just taken her first step, by firing the captain. Where McPhail will head next is the billion dollar question.
Bruce Cameron has been a pollster and strategist for over 35 years, initially working for Gallup Polls, Decima Research and the Angus Reid Group before founding his own consulting firm, Return On Insight.
