A veteran of provincial politics, Joy MacPhail had been appointed to the board shortly before the firing of former B.C. Ferries CEO Mark Collins.
Four years after she took on the role, Joy MacPhail is out as chair of B.C. Ferries’ board after her term was not renewed.
MacPhail, 74, was appointed to the board in 2022, following a five-year stint as chair of ICBC. She served two two-year terms.
A veteran of provincial politics, MacPhail — who had served in multiple cabinet minister positions under NDP premiers Glen Clark and Ujjal Dosanjh — was appointed by the province’s B.C. Ferry Authority shortly before the firing of former B.C. Ferries CEO Mark Collins.
Cathy McLay, who served as vice-chair during MacPhail’s second term, will take over chair duties before a permanent chair is found.
Also departing from the B.C. Ferries board are directors Eric Denhoff and Dennis Blatchford.
MacPhail, Denhoff and Blatchford’s terms expired on June 25. No reason for MacPhail’s term not being extended was given by the B.C. Ferry Authority. Directors are allowed to serve up to eight consecutive years.
The chair position comes with an annual $100,000 retainer.
The B.C. Ferry Authority’s board of directors — the ferry company’s sole shareholder, which oversees its strategic direction and decides who sits on the B.C. Ferries board — said in a statement that MacPhail’s tenure as chair was transformative and marked by “fearless leadership.”
“Joy’s extensive experience was critical in the implementation of billions of dollars of new capital assets for the ferry system, which will allow the company to maintain its resilience as ridership continues to grow,” the B.C. Ferry Authority said in a statement.
New appointments to the B.C. Ferries board announced by the ferry authority include Jessica Bowering, a lawyer and senior counsel at Hawkins Lang and Price, and Marlene Kowalski, a chartered professional accountant who previously served as the chief financial officer of Vancouver Island University.
B.C. Ferries is governed by a complicated four-part structure in which the company operates the system on behalf of the B.C. Ferry Authority, its sole voting shareholder, while the B.C. Ferry Commission regulates fares and capital spending, and is ultimately funded by the provincial government.
B.C. Ferry and Marine Workers Union president Eric McNeely said the director shuffle won’t help with climbing fares and declining reliability.
“We deserve to know whether the current leadership and oversight model is delivering the accountability, transparency and value that we expect as taxpayers,” McNeely said in a statement. “Changing directors is easy. Fixing B.C. Ferries is harder.”
The union says ferry workers have faced years of service pressures, workforce shortages, deferred investment and growing frustration from the travelling public. It’s calling for an independent public review of the company’s service-delivery model.