PORTLAND, Maine - A senior government official from the Canadian province of Nova Scotia has described a meeting with Maine Gov. Paul LePage as "extremely positive." Transportation minister Geoff MacLellan led a delegation from Nova Scotia for a meeting with state and local officials Thursday to discuss support for the Nova Star ferry service.
It fell to Portland Mayor Michael Brennan to formally welcome the Nova Scotia delegation to Maine's largest city - the destination for the thousands of Canadians he hopes will come this season, thanks to the Nova Star ferry service. "This is the first of many meetings," Brennan said, "and we clearly want to have a strong relationship with you, with Nova Star and with the ferry service going forward."
The more important business was conducted earlier in the day when Nova Scotia's transport minister, Geoff MacLellan, and three other delegates met with Gov. LePage. Before arriving in Maine, MacLellan told journalists the purpose of the trip was to find out exactly how much support the ferry service can expect from the state of Maine.
Speaking at Portland City Hall Thursday afternoon, MacLellan said the meeting had been a success. "We were happy about the position of not only the governor but we had senior staff in the room from transportation, from finance, from tourism, and really it focused on: How do we work collectively? What's the partnership moving forward?"
MacLellan says state officials committed to sending a delegation of their own to visit Nova Scotia as soon as possible, "to really sit down at a very senior level and start ironing out what are the relationship components, how do we work with tourism, how do we work on the operating side, what we can do to make sure that this service is viable and sustainable. So that's where we're at."
Since the Nova Star was launched last year, Nova Scotia has subsidized the service to the tune of more than $30 million. No direct subsidies have been forthcoming from the state of Maine, but LePage has committed to securing a $5 million line of credit for the cruise operators, although no commercial bank has yet agreed to provide one.
MacLellan acknowledges that the funding disparity is a sticking point back home. "The conversation in Nova Scotia does center around the fact that we've put a lot of money up, but look this is a service that is important for the province of Nova Scotia. We want to be connected to the United States, there is no question about that. There's value for us from a tourism perspective, from, obviously, an economic perspective."
"The state funding so far from the state of Maine is $20 million and that was for tourism and marketing," says Adrienne Bennett, a spokesperson for Gov. LePage. She says that, while Augusta may not be directly subsidizing Nova Star cruises, state dollars are still being invested in the service.
Apart from the marketing expense, she says Maine has put money into re-developing the passenger terminal. "We also had an additional $16 million towards the creation of Ocean Gateway, and an additional $640,000 for safety equipment and gangplank, to actually get to the vessel," Bennett says.
The Nova Star ferry resumed service this month, offering daily crossings between Portland and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. Everyone involved in the operation is hoping for an improvement over 2014's lackluster performance. The service wrapped up in three weeks early last year after a slow start to the season and fewer than 60,000 passengers.
Nova Star Cruises, which operates the ferry, says bookings are stronger this summer and is forecasting about 80,000 travelers will use the service. According to estimates, between 70 and 80 percent of people using the Nova Star are Americans heading east.
