Perhaps they were thinking of the other Columbia?

"Wet Floor" safety cone, Bowen Queen, Howe Sound, BC

I saw this safety cone on the Bowen Queen ferry. (Although to be pedantic, it is not actually cone-shaped.)

On a ferry is might be useful to be able to warn the customer if the floor is wet, and given Canada's multi-lingual society a couple of different languages on the sign would be good.

As this vessel is governed by the federal department, Transport Canada, I would presume that the two languages might be English and French, Canada's two official languages.

But no such luck., The two languages on the cone are are English and Spanish.

Perhaps someone was thinking not about British Columbia, but about the other Columbia, the one is South America. The one where they speak Spanish. You know, the one where Juan Valdez, the coffee grower, lives.