Not a ‘no’ by MacKay
Ottawa won’t save Fundy ferry service on its own
A local development official found something positive in remarks Friday by ACOA Minister Peter MacKay that Ottawa won’t bail out the Digby-Saint John ferry service on its own.
In Halifax, MacKay said it would take a collaborative effort to keep the ferry service running after government assistance ends next January. Various levels of government would need to play a role, as would the private sector.
“He’s not saying no,” says Mike Gushue, manager of the Annapolis Digby Economic Development Agency.
“I guess if we take him at his word, then maybe the word should go to his department and Transport to get people to come to the table. Somebody has to bring everybody to the table and he might be the best person to do it.”
As head of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, MacKay heads one of two federal departments most closely involved in deciding the fate of the Bay of Fundy service.
Both ACOA and Transport Canada, which owns the ferry and the terminals, are studying a report done for them by department civil servants last year.
Gushue was among a group of local representatives who met Friday in Halifax with senior bureaucrats, continuing to press the case for the ferry. Its future has been uncertain since Canada Day 2006 when operator Bay Ferries announced it would shut down the service.
An eleventh hour bailout by federal and provincial governments bought a little over two years to examine prospects for the ferry.
Gushue says he was encouraged by MacKay’s remarks, which weren’t made at the meeting with bureaucrats. However, the meeting itself apparently didn’t encourage all the fishery and tourism representatives in attendance, and Gushue agrees there is a growing level of frustration among those who have been close to the issue for almost two years.
“The answers aren’t coming as fast as we were led to believe they would when the (review) process was announced,” he said.
Although the area has given all the information it has, there hasn’t been much information from Ottawa since the civil servants finished their consultation process last fall.
Gushue emphasizes that the local working group of municipal officials and industry representatives will continue to press home its message that the ferry is an essential part of the region’s infrastructure.
“The whole transportation infrastructure has fallen off the table, whether it’s the ferry services that used to be year-round into the U.S. or whether it’s air services or highways,” he said.
