‘A victory’: Feds back off possible ferry redeployment

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Transport Canada has backed off the idea of moving the Digby-Saint John ferry next spring.

After facing weeks of pushback from business leaders and politicians, federal Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez announced Friday the MV Fundy Rose won’t be temporarily redeployed to serve the communities of Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Que., and Sirois, P.E.I.

Transport Canada was considering that option as the MV Madeline II – which regularly serves those communities – is scheduled for six to eight weeks of mandatory drydocking next spring.

But redeploying the MV Fundy Rose would have left the Digby-Saint John corridor without a ferry to support the region’s multimillion-dollar seafood and tourism sectors, warned local business leaders.

More than 4,800 signatures against the plan had been collected on a petition launched by the West Nova Chamber of Commerce.

Last Friday, Saint John-Rothesay Liberal MP Wayne Long and West Nova Conservative MP Chris d’Entremont – who each represent one side of the ferry route – issued a joint letter calling on Rodriguez to scrap the redeployment plan.

On Wednesday, Long secured support for their stance from the Atlantic Liberal caucus, which recently advocated for the carbon tax carve-out for home heating oil.

Once that unanimous support was secured, Atlantic caucus chair Kody Blois, who represents the Nova Scotia riding of Kings-Hants, took that message to a national caucus meeting where Rodriguez was in attendance.

“It’s a victory,” Long said of the decision Friday. “What it shows to me is that MPs do matter and their advocacy does matter and their voices are heard.”

About 5,000 commercial vehicles used the Digby-Saint John ferry last year, largely trucking seafood into New England. That’s on top of the more than 41,500 single crossings made by non-commercial vehicles last year as well.

Shoreland Transport – the trucking division of Cooke Aquaculture – is one of the ferry’s largest commercial users with operations in New Brunswick and in Nova Scotia. It clocked 600 ferry crossings alone last year and raised its concerns early on with the proposed ferry redeployment.

“Hundreds of companies and thousands of people on both sides of the Bay of Fundy voiced their concerns to the federal government about the possibility of losing the ferry,” said Joel Richardson, vice-president of communications for Cooke Inc., in an email.

“MP Wayne Long and MP Chris d’Entremont are to be commended for urgently bringing our shared concerns to Ottawa to resolve this.”

Officials with the Digby & Area Board of Trade had also been among the first to speak up against the possible ferry redeployment. The organization represents in part local seafood and transportation companies.

“It’s fantastic news,” board president Kevin Ellis said Friday. “It’ll give (the business community) peace of mind and it’ll also allow them to continue to plan for the foreseeable future.”

The decision also instills community confidence in Transport Canada, he added, showing the federal department recognizes the needs of southwestern Nova Scotia and southern New Brunswick.

Bay Ferries – which is one of the board of trade’s members – operates the MV Fundy Rose on behalf of Transport Canada. Brunswick News requested comment from Bay Ferries on Rodriguez’s decision but did not receive a response as of press time.

The MV Madeline II is operated under a federal contract by Coopérative de Transport Maritime et Aérien (CTMA). Îles-de-la-Madeleine is only accessible to drivers by ferry.

“We will support CTMA in finding alternative options to limit impacts on services to Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine when the MV Madeline II enters dry dock for safety maintenance in 2024,” Rodriguez wrote in a message on X (formerly known as Twitter).