The Conservatives claim the promise to replace the John. E. Rigby ferry with a 24-car ferry, rather than an 18-car, was made by the previous Liberal government back in 2007.
Liberal Rick Doucet tells Tide News, that may be true, but he claims when the Premier was campaigning, David Alward made two promises while standing on the Deer Island wharf. He says one promise Alward made was not to privatize the ferry service, and the second was to honor the promise of a 24-car ferry to Deer Island.
Doucet says the Conservatives are claiming a savings of approximately $2.5 million is choosing an 18-car ferry over a 24-car due to construction and dredging costs. He says this is hogwash. "Dredging costs, that's not an issue because they could utilize one side of the wharf. That's something that people have always been trying to figure out, why don't they just use one side instead of having the two sides? So that's not an issue."
Doucet says the community is coming together to host a public meeting on the issue, but a date has not yet been set.
