The budget set aside $28 million to be shared by ferry services in Atlantic Canada. Aside from the local ‘Princess of Acadia’, those services include ferries between Woods Island, P.E.I., and Caribou, N.S., and between Iles de la Madeleine, Que., and Souris, P.E.I.
The Marine Atlantic service between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland is to receive $175 million.
West Nova MP Greg Kerr said the budget item was a positive development for the Digby-Saint John service.
“What it does say is it’s one more step forward in working towards what I call the final resolution. So really, we know we’re going to have the ‘Princess of Acadia’ for another year.”
The ferry already has previously been assured of federal and provincial funding support through to the end of next January.
Ferry operator Bay Ferries Ltd. first announced in July, 2006, that it planned to close the service. Ottawa, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia provided a funding package that was later renewed at the same time a transportation study was announced for southwestern Nova Scotia.
The study’s report was due out early last month, but no explanation has been given for its delayed release.
“Once the transportation study is out we can then focus on exactly what is the best long-term fix,” Kerr said last week.
The MP added that once that study is out, government could look at how long it takes to find a replacement ferry for the aging ‘Princess’, how it will run and who will run it.
He noted there would not be a disruption of service between Digby and Saint John as things move forward.
Municipality of Digby warden Jim Thurber, who heads the Bay of Fundy Transportation Coalition, said he hopes the money included in the budget is leading towards a long-term commitment to the Digby-Saint John ferry service, but has been given no details of how the $28 million would be used.
The ‘Princess’ is now in Saint John where major work is being done to the vehicle deck and elsewhere in the vessel, a refit that is out of its normal schedule of every second year. At least one marine expert thinks the work may be sufficient to allow the ferry to meet new safety regulations, at least in the short run.
There is also an indication that the ferry may not be allowed to carry as many passengers as it has. The current limit is 650 people.
