Hearings to be held on reduced Wood Islands ferry service
MLA's request for hearings agreed on by standing committee
Legislative hearings on the reduced Wood Islands ferry service are going ahead.
The Standing Committee on Education and Economic Development has agreed to Belfast–Murray River MLA Darlene Compton's request to hold the hearings about the ferry and the economic impacts of the reduced service.
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"The issues with the ferry service have put a lot of strain on the workers, truckers and local businesses," Compton said in a news release.
"The latest tourism stats show that ferry traffic was down about 15 per cent in July alone so I felt it was a good idea for a legislative committee to hear directly what the challenges are on the ground in the community and get a better sense of the economic impacts on eastern Prince Edward Island."
Increased use
Compton said she's hoping the meeting will take place as soon as possible because commercial, tourism and post-secondary student traffic heavily use the service at this time of year.
The MV Holiday Island was taken out of service for the season when it was found to need more maintenance work than initially thought, leaving just the MV Confederation operating along the route. Extra sailings were added to the schedule to help with the long waits.
Premier Wade MacLauchlan called on Transport Canada earlier this month to add a second ferry, saying the lack of action and solutions on the part of Transport Canada is disappointing and unacceptable.
Prime Minster Justin Trudeau announced days later his government was committed to ensuring there was ferry service for P.E.I. and Nova Scotia.
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