Federal Election 2025

On April 28, 2025, Canada holds a Federal election. Fair Sailing sent a questionnaire to candidates in the Victoria riding.

Background

2025 will see over 300 cruise ships arrive in Victoria carrying up to 1,000,000 passengers. The majority of ship stops are brief evening calls to comply with an American maritime law, saving the foreign-based cruise lines over $1 Billion CAD in avoided penalties. Yet cruise tourists contribute little to the economy of Victoria, accounting for less than 2% of tourist spending in the region at a high social and environmental cost. 

Locally, current cruise tourism practices result in overtourism (crowding, traffic, noise) in our community. Victoria also imports undisclosed volumes and types of cruise ship garbage (solid and liquid wastes) to our island.

Nationally, cruise ships pollute our air and marine environments by using heavy oil fuels and releasing scrubber wash water, sewage and grey water in Canadian waters - and beyond.

What we asked the Candidates

1)    What is your vision for respectful cruise tourism in Victoria?

2)    How would you address air and ocean pollution from cruise ships?

Candidate Responses

Michael Doherty, Green Party

Although I don't expect that you'll have gone through my past social media posts, if you were to do so you would find a number that complain in particular about the effect of cruise ships on local air quality, though of course I'm aware of other associated problems such as CO2 emissions, water pollution, etc.  That said, the questions you have posed are difficult to answer, because the current reality of the cruise ship industry is so distant from any "vision for respectful cruise tourism" and the air and water pollution problems are so significant.

The recent announcement of an initiative to install shore power facilities for cruise ships in Victoria is a good start.  As you will know, however, in Vancouver the decision on whether or not ships actually plug into shore power is a purely voluntary one, and about 1/4 of cruise ships choose not to do so.  I see no reason why ships should not be required to utilize shore power once it is available.

In the medium term, there should be financial incentives that encourage visits from ships that use less polluting technologies and practices and financial penalties for those that continue to rely on more harmful technologies and practices.  In the longer term, there should be a ban on ships that continue to burn polluting fuels.

A small but beneficial change that could be made much more quickly would be with regard to how passengers are transported on shore.  The diesel-powered tour buses that drop large groups of them off downtown and at other sites could and should be replaced by better transportation alternatives.

If I should be elected as MP for Victoria, I hope that you will get in touch with me in future to discuss these matters in greater depth.

Best regards,

Michael Doherty