Protestors occupy government office building
Posted Feb 4, 2010 04:37:18 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Hundreds of protesters occupied a Nova Scotia government office building today to urge officials to keep a ferry running between the province and the United States.
The group of tourism operators, business owners and employees is trying to save the CAT high-speed ferry service between Nova Scotia and Maine.
Ron LeBlanc works as the chief steward on the ship and says he and his wife will likely have to move with the loss of the ferry.
“I’m here for my job and for tourism, I mean we need it without that there’s a lot of people who’ll have to move away,” says LeBlanc.
“For instance, myself and my wife both work on the ship, no ship, well what are we going to do?”
Bay Ferries Limited announced in early December that it was dropping the service because it could not afford to operate without government help.
The province says it can no longer afford to provide subsidies. The group estimates the loss of the ferry would mean a loss of about 600 jobs.
Economic Development Minister Percy Paris says the issue has been decided and he is not taking it back to cabinet.
Paris met with local organizations that want to save the service after a demonstration today outside government offices in downtown Halifax.
