This is a continued example of "Tourism Busting" with special thanks to Ottawa.
Thanks so much for the equivalent to the TCH, I'm sure people are sleeping in their trucks, ruining their honeymoon, and abandoning their vacation here while part of the highway in Manitoba is being sent to Switzerland for repair.
If we do not deal with the cattle car service, pack it in for tourism potential as well. I guess visitors could use the airports - but wait what airports?
Ferry service returning to normal
Last Updated: Wednesday, August 2, 2006 | 6:11 PM AT
CBC News
Marine Atlantic says hundreds of people who have been waiting for a ferry ride across the Cabot Strait will leave sooner than expected.
The MV Leif Ericson left North Sydney, N.S., for Port aux Basques, N.L., around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday. It's the first trip for the vessel since it had an engine problem on Saturday.
Now that the ferry is back in service, Marine Atlantic president Roger Flood expects the backlog of passengers will be cleared up by Wednesday night, instead of Thursday.
"What we were thinking at that point is that it would take an additional 24 hours to clean up the backlog after we had the vessel running. We think we're going to do that faster," Flood said.
However, it's expected to take a little longer for commercial traffic.
Hundreds of people who had been sitting on lawn chairs among the rows of cars and trucks at the port in North Sydney expected to stay put for days.
Mary-Ann Newsom slept in her truck for two nights, along with her mother, her daughter and her new husband.
"We're on our honeymoon and they're telling us we won't get out until Friday, and we got to be back on Sunday," Newsom told CBC News on Tuesday.
"It's not much of a honeymoon for us," she added, "but it's one we'll never forget."
Maude Brendle and her two young grandsons arrived at the ferry terminal Monday. By Tuesday night, they decided to give up on their plans to visit Newfoundland and drive back to Pennsylvania.
"Seems like the terminal is wasting all of our time up," Brendle said, "because we can't leave the truck."
Officials had estimated that 500 passengers a day would miss their crossings because of the breakdown of the Leif Ericson, even though two other ferries were still operating according to schedule.
Flood said it took longer to repair the ferry because a part had to be shipped from Switzerland.
6 comments:
This is a continued example of "Tourism Busting" with special thanks to Ottawa.
How is Ottawa responsible for a mechanical breakdown? Is St. John's also responsible whenever an indicator light burns out on the Beaumont-Hamel or the Bond?
And when, oh when, are Newfoundland nationalists going to hold Danny Williams and his government to account for what their crass partisan ferry route tinkering (ferrymandering?) has done to Labrador tourism?
Thanks so much for the equivalent to the TCH,
Where is it said, other than in the Big Book of Newfoundland Nationalist Mythology, that the Gulf ferry is "equivalent to the TCH"?
I guess visitors could use the airports - but wait what airports?
There are four airports in Newfoundland alone.
You and your childish attacks on me prevented you from stopping the mighty Rideout from stripping your tourism. I'm on the public record against the move to Lewisporte. You are letting it all go by and the only thing you're going to do about it is yell at me.
What are you afraid of?
As for the the TCH and or the Labrador highway being our TCH you got a better concept? What do you call it? Okay I know it's a ferry right?
Why must this service continue to be supplied by the feds. Oh that's right - is it in the Terms or what?
You wanna play stupid? No problem better than having the guts of at least a codfish.
You are my best argument!
You and your childish attacks on me
It is not a "childish attack" to ask a basic question!
As for the the TCH and or the Labrador highway being our TCH you got a better concept?
Better concept than what?
I know one thing: I wish Newfoundland nationalists would stop whinging about Marine Atlantic, and start building an alternative route to and from the province, and to and from Newfoundland, via Labrador, Quebec, and the Strait of Belle Isle ferry.
But that would mean connecting Labrador and Quebec by highway. Newfoundland nationalists hate that idea.
It would also mean spending provincial money in Labrador, and since Labrador is a place to get money, not spend it, that will never happen either.
What do you call it? Okay I know it's a ferry right?
Very good, yes, it is a ferry.
Why must this service continue to be supplied by the feds. Oh that's right - is it in the Terms or what?
Yes, it's in the Terms of Union. But nowhere is it said in law that the ferry is the equivalent of the TCH.
Nor is there anything in the Terms that say ferries to/from Newfoundland may ONLY be run by the federal government. There is no constitutional impediment to anyone else running a ferry from Newfoundland to any other part of Canada. I'd love to see a cruise-ferry out of Montreal or Halifax, similar to what Quebec runs down the St. Lawrence to the Maggies.
If Marine Atlantic is so bad, where are the private shippers of the great maritime nation of Newfoundland? Why aren't the filling the void?
You wanna play stupid? No problem better than having the guts of at least a codfish.
Who's being childish now?
Here is some reading on the topic...As for the ferry service being official TCH - it's a fruitless point - IT IS AN ESSENTIAL SERVICE IN BOTH DIRECTIONS.
http://www.releases.gov.nl.ca/releases/2001/just/1015n01.htm
http://www.parl.gc.ca/37/1/parlbus/chambus/house/debates/128_2001-12-10/han128_1110-e.htm
Unlike my landlocked home province of Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador does not have the advantage of fertile soil and conditions that favour growing excess produce and the raising of cattle. Therefore it has to import most of what it consumes. It relies on the gulf ferries to bring in the necessities of everyday life and to transport Newfoundland products to outside markets
Since the operator of the gulf ferry is Marine Atlantic, which is a federal crown corporation, there will never be a lockout because the government would have to pay the province compensation if there were. Yet there is no provision in the Canada Labour Code to protect Newfoundlanders from work stoppages. Even the threat of a suspension of service is detrimental to the provincial economy and devastating to its vital tourist industry. Any interruption of service, even only a few days, causes backups, destroys perishable goods and increases the cost to both shippers and consumers.
The government has turned a deaf ear to the pleas of Newfoundland and Labrador politicians, businesses and business organizations to change the way it deals with labour relations on the gulf ferries.
The Canadian Federation of Municipalities recently passed a resolution encouraging the federal government to enact legislation under part I of the Canada Labour Code to ensure “that the ferry service between North Sydney, Nova Scotia and Port-aux-Basques, Newfoundland be unaffected by any disruption in service”. It is very important to the Canadian Federation of Municipalities.
TERM 32
http://www.rantandroar.ca/everything.htm
As for the ferry service being official TCH - it's a fruitless point - IT IS AN ESSENTIAL SERVICE IN BOTH DIRECTIONS.
1) Neither of those links you provide actually say that Marine Atlantic is an "essential service" within the labour law meaning of the term.
2) Nor does either link say that Marine Atlantic is legally equivalent to the TCH, whatever that would mean anyway.
Therefore it has to import most of what it consumes. It relies on the gulf ferries to bring in the necessities of everyday life and to transport Newfoundland products to outside markets
That reliance is of the province's own making: if the province would have built an alternative route via Labrador, or local captains of industry had built on the province's maritime history to provide private-sector shipping alternatives, it wouldn't rely on the gulf ferries, now, would it?
Since the operator of the gulf ferry is Marine Atlantic, which is a federal crown corporation, there will never be a lockout because the government would have to pay the province compensation if there were.
According to what?
Yet there is no provision in the Canada Labour Code to protect Newfoundlanders from work stoppages.
That's up to the Canada Industrial Relations Board to decide, within the parameters of that Code.
Even the threat of a suspension of service is detrimental to the provincial economy
Hmmm.... I wonder then why Newfoundland nationalists don't have the same concern when the Labrador coastal service is shut down of ferrymandered for stupid political reasons? (Hi, Tom Rideout!) Or when the provincial government decides Labrador doesn't need a highway 12 months of the year after all?
The government has turned a deaf ear to the pleas of Newfoundland and Labrador politicians, businesses and business organizations to change the way it deals with labour relations on the gulf ferries.
And Newfoundlanders have turned deaf ears to the pleas of Labrador to turn Labrador into a viable alternative to the Gulf ferries as a route to and from Newfoundland.
Why would you rather be so dependent on the Gulf ferries and the highways of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick? The kerfuffle the other year over the NS toll highway, and the problems that have cropped up from time to time when the Canso causeway is closed for weather, would never have had such an impact on Newfoundland if Labrador could also have been used to trans-ship.
Why won't Newfoundland kick in its fair share of a highway across Labrador? And why has Newfoundland historically been so adamantly opposed to linking Quebec and Labrador by highway?
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