The mayor of Portland has visited Yarmouth.
Ethan Strimling arrived on the Cat ferry last night along with Mayor Pam Mood.
The two mayors attended a function at a seniors forum today at the Rodd Grand Hotel and later joined in discussions with other municipal leaders.
Mayor Strimling spoke of the importance of the ferry link between Yarmouth and Portland.
“What a tremendous investment you’ve made up here. You can feel it on our end and I’m sure you feel it here.
Tens of thousands of people are travelling on it; spending money and having a great time.”
He was asked about the fact that Nova Scotia taxpayers are taking the greatest risk, spending over 23 million dollars this year while Portland’s risk is minimal.
“I can’t address it in your government. Your government has to make the decisions that your government makes, but we feel very proud
of our relationship and we have done what we can do in order to make it work. This is part of our working waterfront. There’s a significant part of the property that we’ve dedicated just to this to allow it happen. In all honesty thats a piece of property that, if we chose to do something else with it, would have a tremendous return.”
Mayor Strimling also says he’s hopeful there will be fewer black-out dates for the Cat ferry in the future.
The agreement with the cty of Portland included blackout dates to accommodate heavy cruise ship traffic in its harbour.
Strimling says the black-out dates were the result of the Cat starting service late in the season.
“The contract for the ferry wasn’t finalized until late in the season. Hopefully down the road we’ll be able to have fewer of these. We’re booking cruise ships for 2019. It’s a very busy, busy part of our port. But we’re talking about less than a dozen days.”
