Yarmouth to Maine ferry tickets going on sale Monday

Tickets for the revamped ferry service that will link Nova Scotia with Maine should go on sale this Monday, Nova Scotia's transport minister said Thursday. 

Geoff MacLellan said Bay Ferries made the commitment earlier and he expects the company to keep its promise. 

"They're moving as quickly as they can," he said after a  cabinet meeting. "They have to have the IT infrastructure in place to do this properly."

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The province has faced stiff criticism for the 10-year deal it signed last month with the company, with some critics saying the government is taking on too much risk in the venture.

Opposition calls it 'ferry fiasco'

Progressive Conservative party leader Jamie Baillie issued a statement Thursday saying the government's $10.2-million subsidy in the first year of operation amounts to a $170 subsidy for each expected passenger, assuming Bay Ferries meets its goals. 

As well, Baillie said the company's projected passenger numbers fall far short of the 130,000 passengers recommended for a commercially viable service, as calculated by an expert panel in 2012. 

The Tory leader also said the Liberal government has refused to release the "guaranteed profit" taxpayers will pay to Bay Ferries through so-called management fees.

"I am deeply concerned that the premier looked at these numbers and still concluded that this is a good deal for Nova Scotia," Baillie said in a statement.

"[Premier Stephen] McNeil's ferry fiasco just keeps getting worse." 

'It's sometimes easy to beat up on bureaucrats'

MacLellan said the management fees had to remain secret as a matter of corporate confidentiality. 

He said the deal is the best the province could do after a rigorous review process. 

"I don't take a back seat in terms of work ethic or intellect from anybody," he said, adding that senior staff worked long hour to secure a deal. 

"It's sometimes easy to beat up on bureaucrats.... This will stabilize and this will work." 

Asked if the province put itself in a poor bargaining position when it announced the ferry service had to be revived, MacLellan said: "I don't believe ... that [Bay Ferries CEO] Mark MacDonald saw us as being pinned down and he was going to extract the best deal out of us."

MacLellan said the province was thrilled to learn the federal government set aside funds for ferry services in its spring budget, but the province has yet to hear whether it will get any money. 

In all, Nova Scotia taxpayers will pay at least $32.7 million over the next two years to refloat the ferry service.

The deal came five months after the government dumped the previous operator, Nova Star Cruises, after it failed to meet passenger targets and soaked up $39.5 million in provincial subsidies during its two years of service. 

Ferry service will start mid-June

The new ferry, known as The Cat, will get $23.3 million in the first year, including $9 million for a vessel refit to be carried out at a U.S. shipyard. There is also $4.1 million for startup costs and for terminal upgrades needed in Yarmouth. 

The funding in the second year will be $9.4 million, with terms for future years negotiated based on performance. 

The new service is expected to run from June 15 to Sept. 30 with daily departures from Yarmouth and Portland, Maine, at 8 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. respectively and returning to Yarmouth at 9 p.m. 

The ferry can carry 282 cars and 866 passengers and while MacDonald said it has the capacity to handle commercial trucks it won't, because officials in Portland don't want truck traffic in the city's downtown core.