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Province negligent when dealing with Marine Atlantic issues February 21, 2007 Eddie Joyce, Opposition Transportation and Works Critic and MHA for the District of Bay of Islands, says he was very surprised to learn that Transportation and Works Minister John Hickey was advised months ago that Marine Atlantic was planning to implement rate increases. "It's absolutely amazing that Transportation and Works Minister John Hickey knew about the proposal to increase rates on the Marine Atlantic service and did not advise or consult with stakeholders in this province," said Mr. Joyce. "Instead, the minister issued a press release after the decision was made professing his shock that the federal government would implement such rate increases. It is obvious that this reaction was nothing more than crocodile tears. "If the minister was on top of this issue, he should have consulted with key stakeholders such as the Federation of Municipalities, tourism and trucking industries. These groups could have outlined their concerns and then applied their own pressure to the federal government and lobbied their local Member of Parliament. Instead, the minister decided to say nothing and sat on this information, and we now see the end result of that logic. "This most recent example demonstrates once again this government's inability to deal with Ottawa. I find it difficult to understand why this information would not be made public to key stakeholders, unless the minister felt that he would be hypocritical given his government's decision to raise provincial ferry rates by 25 per cent. Either way, any rate increase on our provincial ferry service or Marine Atlantic is totally unacceptable. "The premier said in the House of Assembly that you have to pick your battles with Ottawa. I am disappointed that our provincial government has deemed Marine Atlantic rate increases unworthy of such a fight. This is unfortunate as the gulf ferry service impacts on all sectors of the provincial economy. "Now that it appears the province is raising the issue of the Argentia ferry service, I hope this is an attempt to get out in front of an issue before any decision is made. As was seen in the case of Marine Atlantic rate increases, keeping information from the public will not serve the people of this province."
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