Liberals as much to blame for Yarmouth ferry flap as anyone else

Few things have been as consistent a source of debate in Nova Scotia politics for the last decade as the ferry service between Yarmouth and Maine.

The most recent chapter is the decision by the Progressive Conservative caucus and its leader, Tim Houston, to ask a judge to order the release of the management fee paid to Bay Ferries to operate the service.

The move follows the government's rejection of privacy commissioner Catherine Tully's ruling the information should be public.

A day before Houston invited reporters to watch him walk into a downtown Halifax courthouse to file his paperwork, the Liberals said his plan amounted to nothing more than a political stunt.

But if Premier Stephen McNeil, or anyone on his team, actually thinks that's what the Tories are doing, then they have a direct hand in the creation of that stunt.  

On its own, the question of the management fee paid to Bay Ferries would likely rate low on the list of concerns of anyone but the most ardent political watcher. After all, the total annual cost of the service to taxpayers and passenger counts are publicly reported.

But the Tories have been able to make political hay with the issue because it bundles well with a succession of other examples — each on its own a kind of political inside baseball — that builds a narrative that the McNeil government is unaccountable, secretive and arrogant.

Consider the creation of the legislature's standing committee on health. The government used its majority to limit the number of meetings for the committee to just 12 a year, which is actually more than it had initially planned to support.

Then there was a decision first to limit topics at the public accounts committee — long a thorn in any government's side — before drastically reducing the number of those meetings and justifying it with the decision to establish a health committee.

Add to that frequent rejections to give more power to the province's privacy commissioner, despite a pre-election promise from McNeil to do so, the belief in some quarters the freedom of information system is rigged in the government's favour and other instances of the Liberals flexing majority muscles to stifle potential criticism, and it should be no surprise the Tories would file this lawsuit.

On their own, none of those examples would likely resonate with the public. Together, they form a convincing narrative, especially at a time when Houston and his team are desperately searching for something that differentiates his party from the Liberals.

The lawsuit is an obvious call by Houston because it's the one example where McNeil doesn't have the final say via his majority in the House.

The premier has argued the court challenge is bad for business in the province. He has little evidence to prove that and a noted economist has dismissed the idea. It could, though, have an effect on Yarmouth.

After a resurgence in business development and confidence in the Yarmouth area since the return of the ferry in 2014, some people are nervous about what this latest round of debate might mean.

Regional stability important

Halifax developer Issmat Al-Akhali said he had financing in place to develop a business in Yarmouth that would provide student accommodations for people attending community college and cater to tourists in the summer. His business proposal, and the decision to go to Yarmouth, were predicated on the ferry service.

But his backers cooled to the idea in the last few months given the political climate around the ferry, said Al-Akhali.

"Going to Yarmouth is already a very risky proposition, and it took a lot to convince investors that this is a niche, growing market," he said.

He's hit pause on the plan and is now looking for a location elsewhere in the province with less volatility. Al-Akhali said he'd look at Yarmouth again when the ferry's fate is more clear.

"Needing that stability in the region is really important for an investor. And when chatter like this happens the flexibility on risk is not there for a region like Yarmouth."

Still no economic impact study

Here, too, the Liberals have done themselves no favours.

Despite there being service between Yarmouth and Portland since 2014, with the ship set to dock in Bar Harbor this summer, the government has yet to do an economic impact analysis.

With many questioning the value for money of the 10-year contract Bay Ferries signed in 2016, especially away from the French and South shores, the Liberals have done little to provide concrete evidence of what the service does or does not contribute to the provincial economy.

It will be up to a judge to determine whether the management fee paid to Bay Ferries should be made public, but the ball is in the premier's court when it comes to deciding whether he and his government continue to feed the opposition narrative they have something to hide and are unaccountable.