Province to fund island ferry study

The province of New Brunswick has agreed to fund a study to look at year-round ferry service for Campobello Island. The island's Health and Wellness Advisory Committee has been pressing for the need for year-round ferry service to the mainland to access goods and services.

In a February 26 letter to the committee, New Brunswick Transportation Minister Denis Landry wrote that the province will provide up to $20,000 for a study to look at traffic demand, capital and operating costs and a variety of options for the ferry service. He hoped that the federal government would provide additional funding, if necessary.

Concerning the announcement, Kathleen Case, co-chair of the advisory committee's Ferry and Governance Committee, comments, "We were thrilled. We're very confident that year-round access to Canadian goods and services will positively impact our community. The study hopefully will prove us right."

At present, islanders who want to get to mainland New Brunswick to see a dentist or doctor, do their banking or purchase goods and services not available on the island face a two-hour round-trip drive to St. Stephen, with four border crossings, where they sometimes can have long waits. They also have to bring a passport, face restrictions on what they can bring across the border and pay duty on certain purchases.

In a February 2009 letter to Minister Landry, Gerry Hicks, chairman of the Campobello Island Health and Wellness Advisory Committee, wrote, "Restricted mobility of people, goods and services has had a pervasive negative impact on the economy, education, employment and mental and physical well-being of our residents, resulting in an unnecessary threat to the viability of our community." Results of a survey conducted by the advisory committee showed that 81% of those on the island who responded felt that year-round ferry service is "needed or very needed."

In his letter, Landry stated that the study consultant must be retained through a public process and the funding needs to be managed through a public body. Case says that the provincial government has promised the funding since September 2009, but it was a challenge for the committee, because the island, which is not incorporated, doesn't have a public body through which to work. The committee has now arranged to work with Enterprise Charlotte, an economic development agency for Charlotte County that is based in St. Andrews. A meeting was scheduled for March 26 to begin discussions concerning the ferry study among the island advisory committee, the provincial Department of Transportation and Enterprise Charlotte.