{"id":39521,"date":"2021-02-17T08:35:12","date_gmt":"2021-02-17T13:35:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/?p=39521"},"modified":"2021-12-06T14:58:25","modified_gmt":"2021-12-06T19:58:25","slug":"judge-orders-province-to-release-yarmouth-ferry-details","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/judge-orders-province-to-release-yarmouth-ferry-details\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge orders province to release Yarmouth Ferry financial details"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Nova Scotia Supreme Court has ruled Nova Scotians should know how much the province is spending on the Yarmouth Ferry.<\/p>\n

Leader Tim Houston and the PC party took the province and operator Bay Ferries to court to learn what Nova Scotians are paying in management fees to the company. He calls the verdict a good decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s only the government that wanted to keep it hidden. Everyone else knows it should be out there. So I\u2019m happy that the Supreme Court has now seen what most Nova Scotians would know. That this is public information that should be made public,\u201d said Houston.<\/p>\n

Premier Stephen McNeil and successive ministers of transportation and infrastructure renewal have refused to release the details of the arrangement as they say it would put Bay Ferries at a competitive disadvantage.<\/p>\n

McNeil argued the government has been forthcoming with the financial details.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery penny that has been spent on the Yarmouth Ferry has actually been accounted for,\u201d said McNeil. \u201cWhat we\u2019re talking about is proprietary information of a company. Where I disagree, vehemently, with Mr. Houston is you should not be able to dig in and put a company at a disadvantage and I believe that\u2019s what this does.\u201d<\/p>\n

In court documents, Bay Ferries Limited CEO Mark MacDonald says they considered the management fee to be the profit margin to operate the ferry.<\/p>\n

The PC party filed a freedom of information request in 2016 to learn the details of Bay Ferries management fee and in late 2018, the privacy commissioner determined government should release that information.<\/p>\n

When government refused to follow the commissioner\u2019s guidance the PCs took their request to the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia.<\/p>\n

In a 23-page decision released Tuesday, Justice C. Richard Coughlan said the evidence presented did not demonstrate either Bay Ferries Limited or the government of Nova Scotia would be negatively affected by the release of the management fee.<\/p>\n

Under cross-examination, MacDonald acknowledged while competitors may be able to glean how Bay Ferries approaches their fee structure based on this management fee, the amount the company would charge in a future circumstance could be different.<\/p>\n

Houston says the PC party supports the Yarmouth ferry under the right circumstances.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see potential in the market but we have to find the right deal and that means at the right cost, that means at the right schedule, that means with the right vessel,\u201d said Houston. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of moving parts to it and I think the taxpayer has been let down.\u201d<\/p>\n

The premier is concerned the ruling will scare private business from working with government in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis sends the wrong signal,\u201d said McNeil. \u201cIt puts a chill over private-sector i<\/p>\n

\"Premier

Premier Stephen McNeil. Photo courtesy of the Nova Scotia Government<\/p><\/div>\n

nvestment in this province and if that\u2019s what the Conservative government wants to run in the next election, good luck.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Houston says whenever someone does business with the province of Nova Scotia, they should expect it to be made public.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust like when you make a political contribution to a party, it will be made public. That\u2019s just the deal. The taxpayers always have a right to know where their money went and then they can decide. That\u2019s what elections are for. People will decide if they think government made wise decisions with their money but they have the right to know what decisions were made with their money. That\u2019s just the way it works,\u201d said Houston.<\/p>\n

The management fee was not released in court documents as Bay Ferries Limited and the provincial government now have 30 days to decide whether they will appeal the decision.<\/p>\n

Reported by Ed Halverson\u00a0<\/strong>
\nE-mail:\u00a0edhalversonnews@gmail.com<\/a><\/strong>
\nTwitter: @edwardhalverson<\/strong><\/p>\n

To listen to the broadcast of this story, press play below.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Nova Scotia Supreme Court has ruled Nova Scotians should know how much the province is spending on the Yarmouth Ferry. Leader Tim Houston and the PC party took the province and operator Bay Ferries to court to learn what Nova Scotians are paying in management fees to the company. He calls the verdict a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":6160,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[217,57,225,2602],"tags":[6142,6145,6143,6144,6146,567],"radio":[],"origine":[274,279,278],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39521"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39521"},{"taxonomy":"radio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/radio?post=39521"},{"taxonomy":"origine","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/origine?post=39521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}