Move does not sit well with NDP shipbuilding critic
By TOM PETERS
June 21, 2010
Marine Atlantic will charter two ferries from a Swedish company to replace vessels in its aging fleet. The Crown corporation has reached an agreement with Stena Group of Companies to charter two vessels that Marine Atlantic says will significantly improve the company’s ability to provide on-time, reliable service and meet increasing traffic demand between North Sydney, N.S., and Newfoundland and Labrador.
The federal government set aside $175 million over the next two years in its 2010 budget to help Marine Atlantic renew its fleet and shore facilities.
The Stena ferries, which will be refitted and then replace the MV Caribou and MV Joseph and Clara Smallwood, were built in 2006 and 2007. They are expected to bring about significant cost savings and operational efficiencies by lowering fuel costs and consumption.
No details were released on the charter arrangements and the agreement is conditional upon Marine Atlantic obtaining all necessary governmental and other approvals as may be required.
The charter arrangement does not sit well with NDP shipbuilding critic Peter Stoffer.
The Nova Scotia MP said the new ferries should be built in Canada.
“My big concern is we are in a massive deficit and we are borrowing this $175 million and paying interest on it in order to assist a Scandinavian country to get their ships to run back and forth between Cape Breton and Newfoundland,” he said. “If they had just listened to us years ago and put in the (national shipbuilding) policy, maybe those ferries would have been built already.”