LOSS OF YARMOUTH FERRY COSTLY TO AREA

Nova Scotia's Opposition Conservatives say tourism operators are suffering following the death last winter of the ferry service that linked the province with Maine.

Chris d'Entremont, the member for Argyle, says statistics he has compiled show that some operators are experiencing 50 per cent lower visitation rates from the United States.
The CAT ferry service died after the province's N-D-P government decided it would no longer provide subsidies to the money-losing service.
Cutting the service has seriously impacted business here on the South Shore and the conservative member of parliament for the area, Gerald Keddy, says the provincial NDP government took the wrong approach to the issue right from the start.
Keddy says: "Without question what the government should have done was agree to continue to help subsidize the ferry for the 2010-11 year and then give the group notice that they would be closing the ferry down after 2011".
The Yarmouth Port Authority is attempting to attract a new ferry service for the area that would be up and running by next summer.