Mr. Speaker, the Northumberland ferry service between Wood Islands in my riding and Caribou, Nova Scotia, is a critical economic and transportation link for Prince Edward Island. Each year, the ferry takes nearly half a million passengers and about 200,000 vehicles between the island and Nova Scotia. The economic impact is worth about $27 million to the province of Prince Edward Island.
The survival of this service relies on a contract with the federal government, and the current contract expires at the end of March. The last time the contract was up for renewal, the government nearly ended the service before signing a one-year deal and then a three-year deal. I call on the government this time to do the right thing and put a long-term deal in place to secure the future of this critical transportation link for the thousands of people who travel between Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia.