Premier Christy Clark is making her year-end rounds of the media, answering questions about 2013 from the press gallery. In a conversation with The Province’s Mike Smyth, Clark talked about free ferry passes for BC Ferries employees:

If Premier Christy Clark had her way, former B.C. Ferries employees and their families would not be riding the ferries for free while the rest of the public suffers fare hikes and service cuts.

“It’s not a choice I would make if I was running B.C. Ferries,” Clark said Monday during a year-end interview in her office.

The free ferry passes sparked controversy after the corporation cut nearly 7,000 round-trip sailings a year and chopped a long-standing seniors’ discount to save money.

B.C. Ferries has refused to scale back its freebie program, which allows present employees and former employees with at least 10 years’ service — and their families — to ride the system for free.

Although she disagrees with the taxable benefit, Clark said she’s powerless to stop it.

“Before I became premier the government decided B.C. Ferries would be run independently. So they have the right to make that decision. All I can say is that if B.C. Ferries was inside government, that policy would have changed by now.”

Yeah, if only the Premier of British Columbia had some sort of power over B.C. Ferries – like, say, being in charge of the lone shareholder of the ferry corporation. Oh wait…

Anyway, a few weeks ago, I used the Freedom of Information Act to ask for B.C. Ferries’ employee pass policies. Here is that policy.