A gulf of difference between Oceanex and Marine Atlantic

You reported in your Nov. 7th edition that the Marine Atlantic ferry service cost $209.5 million to operate and had revenues of $111.7 million. The difference is made up by the federal government subsidy that makes it possible to maintain a reasonable budget while living here, a subsidy being challenged in Federal Court by Oceanex.

I have been bewildered from the start about Oceanex’s complaint that the federal subsidy for Marine Atlantic is unfair. Surely, for Oceanex’s position to have merit there would have to be a similarity between the two entities, an injustice can hardly be reckoned otherwise. That would mean that either Oceanex would have to become a government-subsidized, mandated, not-for-profit service connecting the road systems of the mainland and the island, or Marine Atlantic would have to become a privately held, forprofit commercial operation continuing to do what it does now, something that is most unlikely to ever happen.

As they are constituted, how can Oceanex consider that the federal government is being unfair? What am I missing?

Oceanex provides a very valuable service to the people of this province, a service that it is hoped will prosper well into the future. In the meantime, were it to win its case, would not the economic effect on the province, on people and business alike, be devastating?