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CANADIAN INDUSTRY ONLINE - FEBRUARY/MARCH 2014
House of Commons Standing Com-
mittee on Transport, Infrastructure and
Communities has failed to even men-
tion ferries when publishing studies on
transit and innovative transportation
technologies. This was certainly not a
deliberate attempt to ignore the indus-
try, but rather an oversight that is pos-
sibly due to the perception of ferries as
a safe, reliable and almost “expected”
service.
Recently, however, there have
been signs that this may be beginning
to change. Early indications out of the
office of Infrastructure Minister De-
nis Lebel are that infrastructure proj-
ects involving Canada’s ferry systems
will be eligible for support through
the New Building Canada Fund, ex-
pected to launch in spring 2014. It is
also worth mentioning that the gov-
ernment paid explicit attention to
the ferry sector in the recent federal
Budget through a proposed $58 mil-
lion investment in three Atlantic ferry
routes. This is a noteworthy commit-
ment given how frequently ferries are
overlooked in favour of other areas of
Canada’s transportation network.
These are certainly positive steps,
and the Canadian Ferry Operators
Association (CFOA) believes that the
federal government needs to continue
to become involved and play a more
active role in its support of Canada’s
ferry infrastructure. It can either do so
through direct means such as funding
ferry infrastructure projects through
the New Building Canada Plan, or
through other indirect types of sup-
port. For example, CFOA estimates
that Canada’s ferry operators will be
investing at least $2.3 billion in fleet
renewal over the next five years. Elimi-
nating the tariff that the federal gov-
ernment currently places on smaller
vessels would benefit a great many
ferry operators who simply cannot se-
cure berths at Canadian shipyards for
the types of vessels that they need to
build.
Transportation through water-
ways has always been an important
part of our nation’s history. With Can-
ada’s vast coastlines, lakes and river
systems, ferries will continue to play
a fundamental role in the country’s
transportation infrastructure now and
in the years to come. Whether provid-
ing access to the Prince Rupert airport
on Digby Island; transporting people
and goods to the remote regions of
Labrador; or providing highway cross-
ings of the rivers that span the Prairies;
Canada’s ferry operators provide Ca-
nadians with a safe, reliable, and envi-
ronmentally friendly means of trans-
portation. Canadians who rely on the
vital transportation services that ferries
provide will continue to value the im-
portant contributions that our industry
makes, and the federal government
needs to do the same.
