My family lives in Chester and I have a house there. Every year I make the trek up from Washington DC (over 20 hours). With the ferry, it was enjoyable and I could bring my dog. This year, I'm getting married in Chester in September. A number of wedding guests from the US have asked me about the ferry so that they can turn our wedding into an opportunity for a Nova Scotia vacation. Sad to tell them that ferry service is not available and the flights are prohibitive. Please bring the ferry back!

(1) In January, 2011, after one year without ferry service, The Vanguard ran a headline: "Churches: People are Hurting." The effect that the closure of the ferry service has had on the poor in our area needs to be given a lot more attention. The lines at the food bank sure aren't getting any shorter. Moving is not an option for many of us, and when governments have any choice whatsoever, they have a fundamental duty NOT to marginalize the marginalized. (2) Those of us who believe in public engagement and respectful dialogue with government feel misunderstood, disenfranchised, alienated, betrayed, insulted, angry, and a lot more cynical about politics and politicians than we ever did before. We want to be a net contributor to the provincial and national economy, not a basket case, and cannot understand why the provincial and federal governments have responded to our concerns predominantly with shrugs.

For the last 12 years we have been visiting NS. We always spent most of our time in the southern part. Most years we had July 1st in Annapolis Royal then July 4th in Bar Habor. The Cat was mode of transport to and from the States. The depression across most of the world is bad enought but cutting an easy rouute to the US has made matters a lot worse. The whole of the south of NS apears to has lost a lot of visitors with their resulting income. Yarmouth with it's near empty High Street is a testimony of this. The Rod Colony not a hotel but a breakfast bar now, empty or closing shops is a sad sight to see. A far cry from the hussle and bustle of the recent past. When will the people who made the decisen to stop the ferry realise the effect on the people and visitors to the whole NS. IT is past the time to reverse without some damage but the sooner a ferry is re-established the quicker the recovery will be. A Raisbeck Merseyside, England

I had to forgo a trip to southwest Nova Scotia as part of a maritime trip because the lack of ferry service did not leave me enough time to make the circuit. I know the area was deprived of my spending money on food, accommodation and other expenditures. I can say that I know of at least 5 other families who did not spend holiday time there for the same reason. Bring back that ferry!

This needs to be brought back. It is killing the economy in our province.

My family has traveled from Portland, ME to Yarmouth, NS for the past 65 years. My parents were born in Nova Scotia, settled in Massachusetts in 1948, and visited their families in Nova Scotia every year thereafter. In 2009, when ferry service was discontinued, my siblings and I flew to Yarmouth on an executive flight in order to see our relatives, and continued to do so in 2010 and 2011. We truly miss the experience of the ferry, enjoying the lounge, restaurant, and shows. We are not able to make our trek this year, as the airline is more expensive and much less enjoyable. The cessation of ferry service has had a very negaitve impact on our family relationships. The tradition that my parents established since 1949 has become lost. Sincerely, Della Wickens Coffin

I have been wanting to open a women's retreat on my land for 3 years now and I have alot of support on this. Due to no ferry I have not. This business, along with other business's that could be here would be a draw for people to come visit and maybe even move here which would bring new life to Yarmouth and broaden the tax base for Nova Scotia. Just building my retreat would bring in over $800,000.00 to the people here who help build this. The people who come to the retreat would do so for a length of time, not just overnight. This leads to eating in the local restaurants, shopping and alot of activity here. So there is a huge loss of money in not having this retreat. I already have my land which is totally paid for and once I convert the property from residential to commercial my taxes go up which even more money for this town.

As a Councillor for the Town of Bridgewater I talk to many people in our area who are in the hospitality industry and each and everyone of them agree that the cancellation of the ferry service between Yarmouth and the United States has had a significant , negative , effect on their business. As a former banker and small business owner it has been my experience that when one sector of the economy,in this case tourism, suffers there is a similar negative impact on other sectors of the economy. Also in my view cancelling this ferry service when the economy was, for all intents and purposes , in a recession has had a compounding negative impact on the province overall. I think there is a business case to re-instate a ferry service between Yarmouth and the U.S. so let's put the past behind us and move forward in a positive manner. W.(Bill) McInnis Councillor Town of Bridgewater.

My family has been traveling from Massachusetts to the South Shore of Nova Scotia since the 50’s. My mother’s family was from Doctor’s Cove and Barrington Passage. At first they used the ferry from Boston to Yarmouth. When that ended they used the ferry from St. John’s to Digby which was a long trip. When the service from Bar Harbor started it was every summer we would go and spend June through August there. We started using the Portland service when that opened up. My wife and I have been trying to plan a trip there for the last two years but keep postponing it with no close economical ferry service. If we go we don’t want to spend half of our vacation driving to the South Shore and don’t want the expense of flying into Halifax and renting a car. What a disservice has been done to Nova Scotia’s citizens and economy, especially the South Shore without a reliable ferry service for tourism.

Due to the cancellation of the Ferry Service from Yarmouth to Maine as a business owner we have felt the impact. It has hurt our community as well as other communties in Nova Scotia. Businesses have tried to servive by believing that our Ferry service would be brought back quickly but just ran out of time and money waiting for the return of the Ferry and were left with no choice but to close. A seasonal ferry service is definetly needed between New England and Southwest Nova Scotia to provide vital transportation access to our region of the province and it is a key ingredient to a sustainable tourism industry. I feel it is time that our goverment makes this a top priority so that we can have a Ferry service up and running for 2013.

Working in the Tourism industry during the summer of 2011 I definitely noticed the decline in traffic coming to Lunenburg County from the Yarmouth area. Most traffic came from Halifax, spent time here and headed home realizing that all the bad news about the Yarmouth area and the lack of ferry service to the US made them think that Nova Scotia ended now in Liverpool. We need the link and I commend this group for their dedicated work

I have worked at a Hotel In Bridgewater for 4 years. Since the ferry closed there has been a considerable decline in tourists coming up for Yarmouth. We had regular guests that visited on a yearly basis that no longer come to the Hotel due to the specific fact that the drive around is not a cost effective alternative for their trip.

We have a 101 year old family Club near Yarmouth where I met my husband in 1938, We have been going there almost every summer from the states. Without the ferry it is almost impossible with kids and now cranky grand and great children flying to Portland and then in the rented car for a 3 and 1/2 hour drive to our place. It is awful. We need that ferry again. When I first went to the Club we sailed by boat from New York to Yarmouth, took a train, then oxcarts took us to the Club. Anne C Wood

The Scotia Prince or any other ferry that visited brought jobs! In a economy like this that would be good, but we have no ferry. My parents enjoyed the trip to Nova Scotia and would have gone back many more times if it was still running! They should bring it back!

For over 25 years I treated several tourists and visitors in my Chiropractic clinic per month durring the tourist season. The past 3 years I have treated none. This has to be related to the demise of the ferry service. Yarmouth has become a gate way to nothing. Dr. Charles F. Daniels

My wife and I purchased a cottage in Lunenburg in 2003. We live in Vermont, a 4 hour trip to Portland, Maine. At the time, flights from Montreal to Halifax were very reasonable and the ferry was a fun addition to our trip, semi-affordable, and made the trip seem much easier. The combination of flying and ferry allowed us to visit four times a year at first. Without the ferry and flights having more than doubled, we visit once a year. We were considering skipping the ferry as it was cost prohibitive, when it went under anyway. The ultimate for us would be an overnight from Portland or Boston to Halifax. We would visit much more and we have many friends now who would love to board in Halifax and wake up in New England. I would think economically it would be advantageous for both parties, but it can't be as expensive as the catferry. We are hoping an affordable ferry service opens soon as we have friends in both Canada and Vermont who want to experience Nova Scotia and the U.S but do not want to drive 16 hours. We would love to be able to take more trips to Nova Scotia and tour the whole Province. David Ide Richmond, VT

I have been traveling to Yarmouth via Bar Harbor or Portland ferries on a regular basis since I was a child. I am now 71 and still own my mother's home in Kemptville. I have been unable to visit since the "CAT" service stopped. If it does not start again soon, both my children and I will have to abandon the ownership and never visit again. The trip takes an extra day to make and hardly worth the time - or for me, the physical exertion - to get over there. Please start the service again!

As someone who has worked in tourism I can't believe that the NDP goverment does not see how vital the ferry is to, not just Yarmouth, but Nova Scotia as a whole. Having worked for a tour company and a shuttle company I have seen and heard how the impact of the loss of the ferry has affected Nova Scotia. Shuttle operators from Cape Breton have remarked that they had an approximate decline of at least 30% in their buisness once the ferry was cancelled, people from across Canada and the USA have expressed how much they miss the ferry. I have talked to people that have said it wasn't just the time and convenience, but that it was a part of the "Nova Scotia Experience" that they missed. Driving can be a part of everyday life, the ferry offered the experience of something different. In closing, I would like to say that the NDP see's the ferry as having to be subsidized, where it is actually an investment into the tourism industry of the province. As much money is handed out, wouldn't it be great to have invest in something that gives back sooo much more!!!!

The North Queens Board of Trade strongly supports this initiative to reinstate a ferry service between Portland, Maine and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. The effect of the withdrawal of this service has been felt in our community. Kejimkujik National Park Seaside Adjunct, near Port Joli, Nova Scotia, experienced a 17% drop in visitation immediately following the cessation of the ferry service. In our inland village of Caledonia, a drop in US visitation to our tourist bureau was experienced in the same year. Our accommodation services (inn, b&b and hostel) have suffered due to the lack of ferry transportation from Maine. A ferry that transports both visitors and commercial vehicles between Portland and Yarmouth is, we feel, economically essential for both business and tourism. Mary Keirstead, Secretary North Queens Board of Trade

My husband and I are members of a very slim minority who chose to move from Alberta to Nova Scotia. We had been here a few times on holidays and really enjoyed what the province had to offer. December 2009, we journeyed across Canada to our new home in Yarmouth County and cancellation of the Cat was announced just three days after our arrival. Since then it's been an uphill struggle economically and we have watched with dismay as businesses close their doors due to the downturn in tourism. We are heading back to Alberta but I sincerely hope a ferry service is reinstated before Yarmouth becomes a ghost town that once had a very rich history as an international port.