Bay Ferries CEO calls for toned down rhetoric around Yarmouth ferry

Rhetoric that is "excessive" and "nasty" stands to harm the ferry service between Yarmouth and Maine, the president of Bay Ferries has told a committee of the Nova Scotia legislature.

Mark MacDonald, along with officials from Tourism Nova Scotia and the provincial Transportation Department, appeared Wednesday before the natural resources and economic development committee.

The meeting came as the government faces criticism for spending $8.5 million to renovate the ferry terminal in Bar Harbor, Maine, where the Cat ferry will sail this summer.

MacDonald said he and other members of the company have learned to ignore political debate and focus on business, but that isn't the case for everyone.

"The problem is that our customers, partners, to some degree investors in the community ... can't ignore those comments," he said.

"It goes to our customers on the U.S. side and it goes to the people we're trying to do business with on the U.S. side, whether they be towns or cities or federal agencies."

Tuesday's provincial budget allows for $13.8 million to operate the service this sailing season.

Following the meeting, MacDonald told reporters that as they try to sell the service to motor coach operators and tour companies, which tend to book a year or more in advance, they're often asked about the future of the service.

"They kind of look at us and say, 'What is going on up there?'" he said.

MacDonald said he understands politicians need to debate issues, but at times "it's just gotten a bit too much for the business."

He said the lawsuit by the Tories to gain access to the company's management fee, and in particular the way it's been handled, is a prime example of the problem.

"Just file the appeal. To my understanding it was announced at a political convention and there were photo ops and everything else. File the appeal, put it before the courts, see what the courts say and get on with it. But don't try and turn it into a stunt," said MacDonald.

Much of the meeting included long preambles and statements from Tory Leader Tim Houston and Yarmouth Liberal MLA Zach Churchill, even though neither are regular members of the committee.

At times the meeting appeared to be more of a debate between those two, with Churchill stressing the importance of the ferry to his region and Houston arguing the service lacks accountability.

Houston told reporters he does not believe his party's approach to the file is affecting the business.

"When something's not going the way you hope or you plan, it's easy to blame somebody else," he said.

Houston said Bay Ferries and the Liberal government are looking out for themselves, while he's looking out for tourism operators and taxpayers.

"We need to make sure that the investment is getting the [best] return that it can possibly get."

But Churchill and tourism industry members who attended the meeting don't see Houston as a champion.

"We are experiencing the revitalization of a sector that collapsed overnight when this service was gone," said Churchill.

He said there are economic indicators for the service and acknowledged they could be made more readily available. The government has said it will do an economic impact analysis on the service once it's settled in Bar Harbor.

Michele Saran, CEO of Tourism Nova Scotia, said room nights sold in the western region of the province have jumped to 71 per cent from 41 per cent since the ferry service resumed.

She said exit interview of tourists show ferry passengers stay longer in the province, spend more money and travel more broadly throughout the province than other visitors.

"I think the numbers that we have supporting the impact of the ferry from a tourism perspective are very compelling," she said.

Royden Trainor, senior executive director of policy and planning for the Transportation Department, said the move to Bar Harbor from Portland, Maine, offers the best long-term prospects of success for the service and bringing down the subsidy.

Trainor said the government expects the subsidy for the service could be below $10 million within a few years, depending on what happens with oil prices. He noted the shorter travel distance of the new route will reduce fuel consumption by about 40 per cent.

All of Bay Ferries' projections for moving to Bar Harbor were run by the government using a third-party evaluator, he added.

MacDonald informed the committee the lease agreement to use Bar Harbor's terminal includes a clause that would see payments returned to the company once traffic reaches a certain level.