Judge reserves decision on releasing Bay Ferries fee

How much the Nova Scotia government pays Bay Ferries for the Yarmouth to Maine service still remains unknown to the public.

Thursday morning, a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge finished hearing submissions on the appeal of the Transportation Department's decision to withhold the management fee information.

Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Houston launched the appeal in 2019.

Houston's move came after Catherine Tully, Nova Scotia's privacy commissioner, released a report recommending the provincial government release the price it pays for a management fee, which had previously been requested through the Freedom of Information Act and Protection of Privacy Act but was denied.

All financial terms of the provincial agreement, except for the management fee, are publicly disclosed.

Nicole Lafosse Parker, counsel for the PC party, wrapped up closing submissions Thursday morning.

“No evidence has been provided that would explain how ... the management fee could be reverse engineered, calculated, subsequently be broken down and used by competitors,” Lafosse Parker argued.

Lafosse Parker said releasing the management fee would also “provide transparency to taxpayers and instil confidence in the integrity of the bidding process.”

Last week, Michael MacDonald, chairman and CEO of Atlantic Ferries Holdings Limited, of which Bay Ferries is a subsidiary, testified public knowledge of the management fee would harm the company's competitive position in the ferry industry.

Macdonald said it would also give the company's competitors “considerable insight into the tendering approach of Bay Ferries Limited in future procurement processes,” allowing them to “predict and underbid” the company's tender pricing.

Diane Saurette, executive director of finance and strategic capital infrastructure for Nova Scotia's Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal, said the department has numerous concerns, such as dissuading business or bidders and a less competitive environment, resulting in higher costs for the province, if the management fee were to be released.

But Lafosse Parker said Bay Ferries and the department “rely entirely on the self-serving evidence of Mr. Macdonald and Ms. Saurette.”

She urged Justice Richard Coughlan, who has a copy of the unredacted FOIPOP, to look at the management fee and see that it doesn't contain the formula of how the management fee came to be, but only the amount.

Coughlan reserved his decision for a future unknown date.