CAT ferry sets sail for first time in three years, re-establishing Nova Scotia’s link to the U.S.
After three years, the high-speed CAT ferry left Yarmouth, N.S., Thursday morning and headed for Bar Harbor, Maine.
Criticized for costing taxpayers millions, the service is regarded as vital to the economy of southwestern Nova Scotia.
Massachusetts residents Sherri and Ray Ellsworth have spent the last eight days touring Nova Scotia for their anniversary.
The re-established link between the province and state will make it easier for them to come back.
“We didn’t get to Newfoundland, really wanted to get to Newfoundland. So yeah, we’re going to come back and hopefully catch the ferry out of Sydney,” said Ray.
They are exactly the type of tourists the province wants to see.
“When visitors come across the ferry, they are high-value tourists,” said N.S. Public Works Minister Kim Masland.
“They stay longer, they usually stay longer than a week, and they spend money and they travel our entire province.”
Nova Scotia’s contract with Bay Ferries, the company that operates the CAT ferry, runs until 2026. This year’s operating budget is a little over $17 million.
“$17.12 million is a lot of money,” said Masland. “That will take a lot of passengers but again, we have to look at the economic benefit of it to the province as well.”
The service is starting three weeks earlier than usual, and there is optimism the season will be a successful one.
“The Bay Ferries terminals not just in Yarmouth, but in Saint John, N.B., and Digby are getting phone calls from people inquiring about service,” said Jim Kerr, general manager of Bay Ferries.
Sandra and Terry Zink are from Barrington Passage. Like the Ellsworths, they too are celebrating an anniversary. They’re heading to a concert near Boston, Mass.
“It’s great value right now with the cost of gasoline,” said Terry. “We can jump on the ferry and save that amount driving.”
Early this season the CAT will be running four days a week, but will begin daily crossings on June 24 until its final sail on Oct. 10.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
Competition bureau finds 'substantial' anti-competitive effects with proposed Bunge-Viterra merger
The proposed merger of agricultural giants Viterra and Bunge is raising competition concerns from the federal government.
Douglas DC-4 plane with 2 people on board crashes into river outside Fairbanks, Alaska
A Douglas C-54 Skymaster airplane crashed into the Tanana River near Fairbanks on Tuesday, Alaska State Troopers said.
BREAKING Mounties will not be charged in shooting death of B.C. Indigenous man
Three Mounties in British Columbia will not face charges in the killing of a 38-year-old Indigenous man on Vancouver Island in 2021.
Canada's favourite sport to watch is hockey, survey shows
The 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs have already delivered a fever level of fan excitement in Canada.
'It's just so hard to let it go': Umar Zameer still haunted by death of Toronto police officer
“It's just so hard to let it go. I mean, everyone is telling me, ‘you have to move on,’ but I know someone is not here [anymore]. So I don't know how I will move on." That’s what Umar Zameer, the man recently acquitted in the death of a Toronto police officer, told CTV News Toronto in a sit-down interview on Tuesday.