Premier Pat Binns today issued the following statement regarding suggestions that the Northumberland Ferry service between Wood Islands and Pictou, Nova Scotia may close prematurely this year:
"Recent media reports and suggestions that the Wood Islands ferry may close early for the season are very troubling. The service is a vital transportation link for residents and shippers, particularly in the eastern region of the province. Presently, 475,000 passengers, 175,000 passenger vehicles and 21,000 commercial trucks use the service, so its significance to the economy is obvious.
In my view, the service should resume each year as soon as possible after the waters are ice-free and similarly remain in operation so long as conditions will allow. Unnecessary, early closure is unacceptable and I'm making this position well known with federal officials who ultimately control the level of service at the operation.
The Wood Islands ferry service to Caribou, Nova Scotia is operated by Northumberland Ferries Limited (NFL) of Charlottetown under a subsidization agreement with Transport Canada.
I sincerely hope, the federal government will work with NFL so the level of service to businesses and residents of P.E.I. and Nova Scotia does not need to be cut. I understand that the employees of Northumberland Ferries Ltd. have been very successful in making the service efficient and have managed costs extremely well. The annual federal subsidy required for the service has been managed downward to the point where it is about half of what it was. This saves the federal government several million dollars every year. Small cost savings from cutting back the service season by three weeks is not the way to reward the regular customers and staff who made this progress possible. In fact, in my view, it is short sighted, and it probably would hurt the business case for the service in the long run.
Aside from the current consideration of how long the operating season is in 2003, I also want to voice support for a long-term operating agreement between Transport Canada and Northumberland Ferries. At present, it is only a year-to-year arrangement, and the future uncertainty that presents, makes economic development in the area much more difficult."