A lengthy U.S. regulatory approval process could mean that the Yarmouth to Maine ferry service won’t be running this summer.
“I guess that’s the conclusion that could be drawn,” Business and Tourism Minister Geoff MacLellan told reporters Thursday.
U.S. Customs and Border Services has yet to issue a permit for the Bar Harbor facility currently under construction, said MacLellan. He admitted the process could take months.
“It comes down to them giving approval on the facility that includes layout design (and) some of the human resources,” said MacLellan. “There’s no runway being given on a drop-dead date in terms of the timeline.”
The province is paying Bay Ferries to deliver the service, but MacLellan wouldn’t say whether the company would be subject to financial penalties in the event that the service isn’t up and running by mid-summer. The service was supposed to start Friday, but Bay Ferries delayed the start date until at least the middle of the summer.
Province paying for permit expediency
The province has hired David Wilkins, former U.S. ambassador to Canada, to lobby for the ferry service. Trying to speed up the regulatory process is currently one of his key responsibilities, said MacLellan.
Premier Stephen McNeil stopped short Thursday of guaranteeing the ferry would be operating this summer, but said his government is “working toward ensuring that there’s a ferry service.”
“We believe that we have the right operator. We believe we will have a service.”
Tory Leader Tim Houston has criticized the province’s handling of the file and for refusing to disclose the amount of money it’s paying Bay Ferries to provide the service. He said the province needs to come clean on whether the Maine ferry will operate this year and how much taxpayers will pay whether it does or not.
“The Liberals have budgeted $13.8 million for the ferry service this year,” said Houston. “That’s in addition to the $8.5 million spent on renovations to the port in Bar Harbor. ... The people paying the bills deserve to know if and when the ferry will run this summer.”
NDP leader Gary Burrill agreed, calling the current situation “a mess of major league magnitude.”
“Think of all the hundreds of tourism operators, the hundreds of people who work in that sector, who are dependant on that ferry and what a let down for all the people of Southwestern Nova Scotia,” said Burrill. “The government owes a thorough apology to the many, many people of the Southwestern part of the province.”
Howard Ramos, a Dalhousie University political sociologist, said the province ought to be credited for attempting to establish links with the U.S. but he questioned whether it fully considered whether the Bay Ferries deal was a wise investment.
“Because, certainly it’s not a clear cut win,” said Ramos. “What’s concerning for taxpayers and Nova Scotians is that the ferry, in particular, hasn’t been able to live up to its various incarnations and to the expectations that have been promoted.
“It’s time for us as a province to really think about how do we ensure economic development for the Southwestern Shore in a way that’s sustainable and a way that will have high return on the investment?”
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