Tender could be issued this month for Yarmouth ferry study that may determine service's fate

Harsh critics of the Yarmouth-to-Maine ferry while in opposition, the PC government now appears to be hoping a long-awaited economic impact study will determine the service is worth the millions of dollars it costs taxpayers every year to keep it running. 

Last year alone, the province paid $17 million to operate the seasonal service from Yarmouth to Bar Harbor. The ferry used to run to Portland, but that changed last summer after a three-year break because of COVID-19 restrictions and delays readying the terminal in Bar Harbor. 

The ferry made 113 round-trips, carrying 36,151 passengers and 14,972 vehicles, in 2022.

During debate on the Public Works budget Wednesday night, Kim Masland, the minister responsible for the department, said: "I do believe, and I'm very confident in this study, that it will show to government the value of the service and it will show to Nova Scotians if they're getting the value for the money that they deserve."

'We know that there is value'

Speaking outside the chamber, Masland said she wasn't prejudging the results of the study to be tendered soon.

"I mean, we know that there is value," she said. "We know that there's people who work on that ferry from the area."

"We know that last year we welcomed people from the U.S., so, obviously, there's value [in] it, but there's never been this broad of an economic impact study to actually show taxpayers what the value is."

In the House, Masland detailed the scope of that study.

"It's going to look at previous years," Masland said to MLAs. "It's going to look at an analysis of what the employment does, what's the value added to local and regional suppliers. I mean, we know, in Yarmouth, there are many suppliers that look after the ferry."

Ferry 'targeted politically': Churchill

Liberal Leader Zach Churchill, who represents Yarmouth, was glad to hear about the scope of the study.

But he said he's concerned the government is looking to end the service when the contract the Liberals signed with Bay Ferries expires in 2026.

"My worry is that this ferry has [been] targeted politically and other ferries haven't. and that the government will be more driven by their politics on the ferry than the actual economics of it," Churchill said.

"The Conservatives, while in opposition, spent a lot of political capital attacking this ferry service, undermining it and that has impacted people's opinion of it." 

Masland wouldn't say whether the fate of the service rests on the results of the study.

"I think I would like to see the results … and then we can talk further," she said, adding that the results are expected by the end of the year.