Governments invest $15.1 million in Digby ferry service

It’s not a long-term guarantee but it will ease concerns for the immediate future.

The Digby-Saint John ferry service will continue to operate until Jan. 31, 2011 after receiving funding of $15.1 million from the governments of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Canada.

The two-year extension allows more time to investigate a possible long-term solution and look at the transportation requirements for the entire southwest Nova Scotia region.

Broken down, the federal government is investing $11.1 million in the service, with the governments of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick contributing $2 million each.

"We recognize the importance of the ferry to the economy. We have listened to community and business leaders who rely on these important assets and delivered results for them and the people of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick," said ACOA minister Peter MacKay.

MacKay said the two-year extension to the ferry service will be used to assess commercial transportation alternatives and economic strategies, should the ferry service be discontinued in the future. ACOA, working with its provincial government partners, will invest up to $1 million for this assessment.

The Digby-Saint John ferry service received $8 million in provincial and federal government funding in 2006.

Recently, the province of Nova Scotia also invested up to $4.4 million in the Yarmouth-to-Maine ferry service. Both operations – the Cat and the Princess of Acadia – are run by Bay Ferries Ltd., and both are being impacted by high fuel costs and declining ferry traffic.

In the case of the Digby ferry service, aside from members of the public and tourists who rely on the ferry for their travels, the service is a vital transportation link for the fishing industry who uses the service to get product from southwestern Nova Scotia to markets.

A study released last fall by a coalition of municipalities and industries said a loss of the ferry service could cost southwestern Nova Scotia up to $40 million annually. A demise of the service, the study said, would jeopardize existing tourism and fishing businesses and likely prevent the development of many new businesses.