Ottawa won't bail out Digby-Saint John ferry on its own: MacKay

Politicians and fishermen worried about the future of ferry service in Digby can't expect Ottawa to come up with a rescue plan on its own, a federal cabinet minister from Nova Scotia says.

Peter MacKay, minister for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, said it's going to take a collaborative effort to keep the ferry to Saint John, N.B., running beyond January.

"It's going to take everybody pulling in the same direction, and that's how we'll get it done," he said Friday in Halifax.

MacKay helped broker the last deal to keep ferry service between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick afloat.

Bay Ferries Ltd. threatened to end the run in 2006 because of declining traffic and high fuel costs. The governments of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick responded by contributing $2 million each while the federal government put in $4 million.

The deal only ensures ferry service until the end of January 2009.

A group of Nova Scotia fishermen and fish processors planned to meet Friday with senior federal officials in Halifax in hopes of getting reassurance that the service will continue.

Claude d'Entremont, co-owner of Inshore Fisheries Ltd. in West Pubnico, uses the ferry three times a week to send halibut, haddock and other fish to U.S. markets.

Without the ferry, he said, it would take another eight hours to truck the product by road, which would mean delays that could lower the price for fresh seafood.

"These are major concerns and not frivolous. Right now, the industry is suffering real bad," d'Entremont said Thursday.

Digby-Annapolis MLA Harold Theriault said the ferry is needed to spur business in the region.

"If we take the ferry system out of western Nova Scotia, here we'll always be a 'have not,'" he said.

"What we've been trying to do is work to get businesses here so we can use it more, but then again, businesses won't set up until they have a better idea of what this ferry's going to be doing. So it's kind of a Catch-22 situation."

MacKay is not giving away any details about how the ferry service could be saved. But the various levels of government would have a role, he said, as would business.

"The private sector is going to have to become more involved in this if this ferry service is to continue," he said, citing Michelin as a company that should be using the ferry to get its tires to market outside Nova Scotia.