By BRIAN MEDEL - Yarmouth Bureau
The clock is ticking for people on both sides of the Bay of Fundy still reeling from news that a one-time floating landmark may sail away forever at the end of the summer.
Bay Ferries Ltd. announced Friday that the Princess of Acadia will make its final three-hour trip between Digby and Saint John, N.B., on Oct. 31.
High fuel prices and declining tourist and commercial traffic were among factors in the decision, the company's president, Mark MacDonald, said in a news release.
"We're addressing this problem as a group to see how we can maintain our ferry service," Digby Mayor Frank Mackintosh said Tuesday after a meeting he chaired that included particip-ants such as West Nova MP Robert Thibault and municipal leaders from Digby and Annapolis counties.
Mr. Mackintosh said most of the members of that group were expected to travel to Halifax today for talks with cabinet ministers and, they hoped, the premier.
"This is not just a Southwest Nova problem," he said. "It's a Nova Scotia problem."
On Tuesday, the group of municipal leaders and their MP talked about the effect such a loss would have on the province.
"We'd like to do an economic impact study as fast as we can," said Mr. Mackintosh. "There are so many things to look at."
Mr. Thibault said he hopes the Bay Ferries decision can be reversed if there is some financial help from the federal government.
"You're looking at a lot of economic loss," he said. "I would hope (Ottawa) would see it as a reasonable investment."
At the legislature, Premier Rodney MacDonald said the government is playing an "active role" in finding a solution, although that won't include an operating subsidy from taxpayers.
"If there's another role that we can play with regards to seeing the service back up and running, we certainly will, but the reality is I don't think Nova Scotians would want us to be in the business of subsidizing that ferry crossing," Mr. MacDonald said.
Considering Ottawa's history with the ferry link, "there are a lot of things pointing in the direction of the federal government on this issue," the premier said. Bay Ferries began operating the service in 1997, after Ottawa privatized some ferry routes.
The ferry service was on the agenda for a meeting set for late this afternoon between the premier and Peter MacKay, Nova Scotia's representative at the federal cabinet table.
Mr. MacKay said the federal government is aware of the importance of the ferry link and is waiting for more information from the company.
"I think this is going to be a multi-government effort and it's also going to involve, of course, the private sector, which is where the ferry link is currently operating, so until we get all the facts on the table we can't make even a preliminary judgment as to what the next step is," he said.
Digby-Annapolis MLA Harold (Junior) Theriault, a Liberal, said the province should subsidize the ferry service as part of efforts to save it.
"We need more ferries to come to this province, not less," Mr. Theriault said. "It's good for everybody."
The company president made it clear that Bay Ferries is not "looking for handouts."
"We'd like to run this as a private business," he said.
Mr. MacDonald said the number of travellers on the company's Princess of Acadia peaked at about 190,000 in 1998 and has since dropped by about 25 per cent.
Higher fuel prices, fewer tourists and highway improvements in New Brunswick and in this province have added to the challenges, he said.
As for the ferry, it's now about 35 years old, but it has a number of good years left, Mr. MacDonald said.
"She has to be replaced at some point," he said. "That's not the issue at this moment."
Ending the service would affect more than 100 people employed by Bay Ferries and its subcontractors, Mr. MacDonald said in a statement issued last week.
Opposition Leader Darrell Dexter said Tuesday that losing the ferry would hurt the fishery, tourist industry and Christmas-tree business.