Ferrity (I)

The minister of transportation defends the much-maligned ferry service he is responsible for, even as the service is in a state of disarray as the peak season is about to start:

[The] Transportation Minister... said Friday they are working to repair the ferry as quickly as possible. During sea trials after the annual re–fit, [the Minister] said the crew discovered the ship's control system had to be replaced entirely. That part is on order but, in the meantime, he said there isn't another ferry available to replace the [vessel].

[The Minister] said technicians are trying to come up with a temporary solution, but that he isn't offering any guarantees.

"Hopefully, I'll get good news, if not today, sometime in the next couple of days, whether or not we can do it. And if we can't do it, I'll have to go back to the people and say, 'it can't be done, and here, the complete system needs to be done, and this is the time it's going to take,'" said [the Minister].

Almost immediately, the cry went up from all the usual suspects on-air and on-line, about how the distant and uncaring government was running the ferry service into the ground, and how there should be a constitutional challenge because the ferry was supposed to be free anyway, and to heck with it, maybe we should separate.

Oh, wait. Of course, none of those things happened, because the ferry service involved is the provincial one serving Labrador, and the minister involved is one Tom Hedderson.

Yip. That Tom Hedderson:

"The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador is making the right investments and coming up with the creative concepts to promote this province as a travel destination," Minister Hedderson said. "However, those efforts are constantly threatened by decisions made by transportation carriers such as Air Canada and Marine Atlantic. These decisions create obstacles which affect easy, affordable access to much of this province and that is a constant challenge to our ability to grow the tourism industry."