The Canadian Ferry Association (CFA) participated in the Building Ferries in Canada Summit, convened by Transport Canada at the direction of Transport and Internal Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland. The Summit brought together key stakeholders from across the country, including representatives from the shipbuilding and steel industries, labour organizations, ferry operators, and provincial, territorial, and municipal governments.
The discussions provided valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities associated with building ferries domestically. Participants explored ways to strengthen Canada’s shipbuilding capacity and support the ferry sector’s long-term sustainability.
CFA strongly supports continued efforts to identify opportunities and remove barriers to building more ferries in Canada. As part of this commitment, CFA will:
Ferry operators across Canada play a vital role in delivering safe and reliable transportation services. These services are essential for the movement of people and goods in many regions. The Government of Canada has an important role to play in supporting the sector—particularly in addressing the cost gap between building vessels domestically versus overseas—and in enabling the shipbuilding industry to accelerate production.
“We thank Minister Freeland for initiating this important dialogue,” said Serge Buy, CEO of the Canadian Ferry Association. “Much work remains to be done, and CFA is committed to doing its part.”
The Canadian Ferry Association (CFA) is calling for abstracts for its 2025 Conference (November 2-4, in Québec City).
You will find, here attached, the information required and the forms needed to submit a proposal for our conference.
Note that the deadline for submission is June 19th.
All proposals will be evaluated by a Board committee and responses provided by June 30th. Preference will be given to CFA members.
If you have not yet registered for the conference, please do so as soon as possible. You can do so by clicking here.
Thank you and looking forward to seeing you in November.
This week, our Association's Board of Directors met with several stakeholders in Ottawa, including Transport Canada's Deputy Minister, Mr. Arun Thangaraj, Stephanie Cadieux Canada's Chief Accessibility Officer, the Director of Policy for the Minister of Transport, officials from Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada and a representative of the The Conference Board of Canada.
These meetings allow an exchange of information and provide more visibility to issues relevant for the sector.
The Board also received and discussed updates from its committees (Workforce, Innovation, Regulatory and Infrastructure) as well as updates on important files from its CEO.
The Canadian Ferry Association would like to thank all those who attended the CFA 2022 Conference and Trade Show. A special thanks to our sponsors, exhibitors, and presenters for making this year’s Conference and Trade Show the preeminent event for the ferry sector in Canada.
We hope to see you again at our next annual conference from September 17th – 19th in Vancouver. Keep an eye on your inboxes for more details to come.
One month left before the Canadian Ferry Association (CFA) conference.
With a great list of panels and speakers, a wonderful trade show and with the event located in the middle of Canada’s national capital region, the CFA is getting ready to welcome its conference attendees.
If you have not done so yet, please register today by clicking here.
The Canadian Ferry Association (CFA) made a presentation to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities today.
The purpose of the presentation was to highlight the crucial role played by ferry operators in the supply chain while also raising concerns about the vulnerabilities of the system.
CFA’s CEO noted that the ferry sector needs a committed federal partner to support the infrastructure changes that will strengthen the sector’s ability to respond to crises and proactively reduce our GHG emissions.
Please find, linked here, CFA’s submission to the committee.
Today, the Canadian Ferry Association (CFA) welcomes new Transport Minister Omar Alghabra.
“We look forward to working with Minister Alghabra to continue the work begun by his predecessor, Minister Garneau,” said Mark Collins, Chair of CFA’s Board or Directors. “We hope to continue our strong collaboration with the government in order to reduce the marine industry’s carbon footprint, support ongoing conservation efforts, improve passenger safety and more.”
As the voice of the industry, CFA plays a central role in advocating on behalf of the passenger vessel sector.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, CFA has championed new measures for the ferry sector to protect passengers and crew members, which were announced in April 2020. CFA has also called for increased flexibility to the COVID-19 support measures to allow Canada’s transportation infrastructure to access this support.
“As the pandemic continues to impact communities across the country – big and small, urban and remote – we look forward to working with Minister Alghabra to find ways for Canada’s passenger vessels to access government support to ensure continued service for essential workers,” added Mr. Collins.
CFA also extended its thanks to outgoing Transport Minister Marc Garneau for his work to help the sector continue to bring passengers to their destinations safely, even during an international pandemic.
For further information, contact CFA’s CEO, Serge Buy at sbuy@canadianferry.ca or 613-720-1777.
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ABOUT CFA
In 2019, ferries in Canada transported approximately 55 million passengers, 22 million vehicles and billions of dollars of goods in communities throughout the country, from urban centres to remote regions. The Canadian Ferry Association represents the sector and its members include eight provincial governments, large urban municipalities, First nations and Crown corporations and private corporations (such as BC Ferries).
Transport Canada has updated its Guidance Material for Essential Passenger Vessel and Ferry Operators in order to provide greater clarity surrounding passengers refusing to wear a mask for medical reasons.
This issue was recently raised by CFA’s Board of Directors during a meeting with Transport Minister Marc Garneau.
Operators may now ask passengers to show their medical certificate if they are unable to wear a mask for medical reasons.
Included within the revised Guidelines:
Operators of passenger and ferry vessels should, when feasible:
Full updated Guidelines are available here.
The Board of the Canadian Ferry Association was able to meet with the Honourable Marc Garneau, PC, MP, Minister of Transport through a videoconference.
Issues mentioned by Board members included: the need for the department to better collaborate and consult with the sector, the ability for operators to ask for medical certificates from people claiming an exemption from wearing masks aboard ferries that require masks, new technologies, passengers on closed car decks.
The Minister responded to the questions, provided updates and made some announcements. He also committed to attend the next face-to-face meeting of the association.
The meeting went well and the Chair, Mark Collins, thanked the Minister for his time, his willingness to listen to the operators and his support of the sector.
Issue specific updates are available to CFA members.
On August 5th, the federal government announced a temporary program focused on funding quick-start, short-term projects that respond to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The COVID-19 Resilience Stream will allow provinces and territories to act quickly on a wider-range of pandemic-resilient infrastructure projects, such as retrofits to allow better social distancing.
Applicants submit their projects to their respective province and territory, who then prioritizes and submits to Infrastructure Canada for review.
For more information, click here.
In addition to this new program, eligibility criteria for other infrastructure streams have also been expanded for projects that can begin before September 30, 2021. This includes expanding the Public Transit stream to allow public sector commuter ferry infrastructure that are not part of an existing transit system to apply.