This has been a busy two days in regards to further failure by the NDP government to understand the full picture in regards to the contract with Bay Ferries to run the Yarmouth to New England service. At issue is comments from the Minister of Economic Development and Minister of Tourism Culture and Heritage Percy Paris yesterday in the Cabinet scrum.
This is an excerpt from David Jackson in Friday's Chronicle Herald;
Economic Development Minister Percy Paris said Thursday that Bay Ferries Ltd.’s agreement with the previous Tory government included $3 million in transition payments if the service shut down.
Six monthly payouts of $500,000 start April 1 unless the ferry is sold, one of Mr. Paris’s staffers said.
The payments are part of the deal the previous government announced last January to provide Bay Ferries with up to $12 million to keep the Cat running between Yarmouth and Maine in 2009. The $3 million in transition payments is part of the $12 million.
Mr. Paris said his government has no choice but to honour the deal. "There is a legal obligation to live up to the agreement that was signed by the previous government, and we will honour that," he said after a cabinet meeting.
The minister said he couldn’t understand why the province would agree to give a company money for not providing a service. "It puzzled me," he said.
There are few points of contention that I have with these statements, firstly is that, why is this only coming out now? My colleague, Yarmouth MLA Richard Hurlburt, has said from the start of this fiasco that Percy's numbers didn't add up when he was talking about the 12 million that went to Bay Ferries. Richard has said that there was a transition of 3 million there that could be used to "buy" another year until the transportation study is complete.
It seems that Percy might have though he might be able to get out of that part of the contract and therefore save money. What is now apparent is that he finally woke up and has put in motion the payment to Bay Ferries. Had he done his due diligence, he would have realized that cancelling the service would not save the province a cent, and in fact cost it some revenue.
If we add the now 3 million dollars of pay-out to the lost provincial HST revenue, are we not coming in well beyond the total ask of 6 million dollars to keep the ferry operational for another year? Plus this week, Conservative MP Greg Kerr speaking to Radio CJLS has said he is frustrated with the provincial government not talking to the federal government to see if there is some kind of partnership that can be developed. Darrell has closed the door on the issue. He had a great opportunity the other day when he shared the stage with Prime Minister Harper at an announcement in Truro. (Where Darrell announced a contribution of 10 million dollars, boo! hoo! we have no money!) I bet he didn't say a word about it!
With 3 million dollars available, you'd think that Percy or Darrell (oh yeah! he's on vacation) that they'd call the feds and use it as leverage to get the feds to help out for this year.
The other issue is the constant blaming of others for the NDP screw ups. You know I have big shoulders and really don't care what the NDP says, but in this case enough is enough. Percy continues to scramble around on this one trying to find an out, he's the guy that's suppose to promote and support our economy and tourism industry. I know he knows in his heart that that he has royally messed up his first test of competency. It's time he steps aside and let's someone else pick up the pieces!