That ferry service between Yarmouth and Maine now looks almost certain to resume in May — following Economic Development Minister Graham Steele’s announcement last week — is great news, of course, particularly for southwest Nova Scotia.
Tourism operators in that region had already been coping with a 70 per cent decline in ferry traffic even before the NDP government pulled the plug on annual subsidies for the money-losing Cat nearly four years ago. When the NDP abruptly ended provincial assistance in late 2009, effectively killing service by what was admittedly the wrong boat for the market, the local economy was further hard hit.
The large, cruise-type ferry, operated by STM Quest Inc., that is expected to ply the waters of the Gulf of Maine next spring matches the type of vessel that a provincial government-appointed independent expert panel reviewing the viability of a re-established Yarmouth-New England ferry service had recommended to the NDP government a year ago.