Provincial officials praise new Yarmouth ferry operator, slam Nova Star

Senior Nova Scotia government officials praised Bay Ferries Ltd. Wednesday for how it ran the Yarmouth ferry service this past summer, and painted the previous operator, Nova Star Cruises, as costly and "unprofessional."

Deputy transportation minister Paul LaFleche compared the two when speaking to the legislature's public accounts committee.

"We don't have to worry about a phone call every day," said LaFleche. "I don't have to pay for [Bay Ferries CEO] Mark MacDonald's business class airline ticket to come meet with us and discuss problems."

LaFleche said Bay Ferries was able to run the service between Yarmouth and Portland, Maine, on budget this year. The province paid $10.2 million to subsidize the ferry, which operated between June 15 and Oct. 1.

Passenger counts lower

The province spent $39.5 million subsidizing the Nova Star over two years before ending the deal with the ferry operator. The company declared bankruptcy earlier this year.

"We can see it was a mistake now," LaFleche said of selecting Nova Star to operate the route. "Nobody knew it was a mistake at the time. The government of the day did its best."

The new CAT ferry operated by Bay Ferries carried 35,551 passengers in its inaugural year. That's 15,487 fewer than in 2015 when Nova Star transported 51,038 passengers.

Even so, Tourism Nova Scotia, the agency set up to market the province and collect numbers on visitors, is painting a glowing picture of the amount of money Bay Ferries passengers brought to the province.

Anna Moran, manager of research for the department, said despite lower-than-predicted passenger numbers during the 2016 season, those who came were "high yield" visitors. Such visitors spent double what the average traveller to the province normally does — $2,100 compared to $1,000. 

She said tourism spending by visitors who took the Yarmouth ferry to Nova Scotia totalled $40 million over the two years Nova Star ran the service. In 2016 alone, those who came via the CAT spent $12 million.

"We can say quite definitively that that ferry has had a very positive impact on that region of Nova Scotia."

Ferry schedule

The new ferry's schedule may have something to do with the relative success. It arrives in the evening and stays docked in Yarmouth overnight. 

Moran's boss, Tourism Nova Scotia CEO Michele Saran, said those who run hotels, motels and B&Bs in Yarmouth and along the Acadian Shore had 70 percent occupancy this past summer.

"That's a 57 per cent increase over last summer, which is incredibly significant."

By contrast, the Nova Star would leave Portland in the evenings and sail through the night, reaching Yarmouth in the morning. It would then sail back to Portland two hours later.

Terrible deal for Nova Scotians

In March, the province committed $32.7 million to the Bay Ferries Yarmouth service over the next two years. That included operating subsidies and $13 million for start-up costs and to retrofit a ferry being chartered from the United States Navy.

Despite the glowing reviews and positive numbers offered by Nova Scotia officials Wednesday, PC MLA Tim Houston remains unconvinced this latest ferry deal is a good use of tax money.

"The deal is a terrible deal for Nova Scotians," he said.

Houston points to the fact Bay Ferries refuses to say how much it is being paid in management fees, which is factored into the overall contract.

But LaFleche is quick to defend that decision in light of the fact Bay Ferries runs routes from Nova Scotia to P.E.I., New Brunswick and Newfoundland for the federal government.

"If we got a really good deal the federal government might come and say, 'Mark, I see you gave a really good deal to the province. We want you to match the deal on our routes now.'"

LaFleche said the province did get "a good deal."