[:en]VANCOUVER, BC \u2013 With the federal election under way, ferry operators look for the next government to address two important priorities that will benefit fare payers and tax payers throughout the country.<\/p>\n
The Canadian Ferry Association CFA) has identified two issues being of key importance for the sector. \u00a0The first is about \u00a0tariffs for the import of passenger vessels under 129 metres in length. \u00a0The second is related to the ability for ferry operators to access infrastructure funding.<\/p>\n
Tariffs on the import of passenger vessels under 129 metres were maintained despite being lifted by the late Finance Minister, the Honourable Jim Flaherty, on most other types of vessels in 2010. \u00a0The initial reason to maintain these tariffs was to protect the Canadian shipbuilding industry. \u00a0However, most shipyards are now unable to respond to ferry operators' needs as they concentrate on the federal government National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy.<\/p>\n
\"Keeping the tariffs in place limits competition, innovation and ends up driving costs for Canadian fare payers and tax payers,\" said Serge Buy, CFA's CEO. \u00a0While CFA understands that trade agreements will, in the future, remove tariffs, immediate action is needed as the present regime penalizes operators and has a negative impact on travellers.<\/p>\n
Further to this, any existing and new infrastructure funding mechanism should respect the regional diversity in this country and allow provincial governments to develop their own eligibility criteria. \u00a0This would avoid any further limitation on the ability for the ferry sector to access funding.<\/p>\n
\"Crucial infrastructure projects throughout the country are\u00a0unable to presently qualify under the Building Canada Plan. \u00a0This needs to change in the future,\" stated Mr. Buy.<\/p>\n
Over 55 million passengers and 19 million vehicles travelled on ferries in 2013.[:fr]VANCOUVER, BC \u2013 With the federal election under way, ferry operators look for the next government to address two important priorities that will benefit fare payers and tax payers throughout the country.<\/p>\n
The Canadian Ferry Association CFA) has identified two issues being of key importance for the sector. \u00a0The first is about \u00a0tariffs for the import of passenger vessels under 129 metres in length. \u00a0The second is related to the ability for ferry operators to access infrastructure funding.<\/p>\n
Tariffs on the import of passenger vessels under 129 metres were maintained despite being lifted by the late Finance Minister, the Honourable Jim Flaherty, on most other types of vessels in 2010. \u00a0The initial reason to maintain these tariffs was to protect the Canadian shipbuilding industry. \u00a0However, most shipyards are now unable to respond to ferry operators' needs as they concentrate on the federal government National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy.<\/p>\n
\"Keeping the tariffs in place limits competition, innovation and ends up driving costs for Canadian fare payers and tax payers,\" said Serge Buy, CFA's CEO. \u00a0While CFA understands that trade agreements will, in the future, remove tariffs, immediate action is needed as the present regime penalizes operators and has a negative impact on travellers.<\/p>\n
Further to this, any existing and new infrastructure funding mechanism should respect the regional diversity in this country and allow provincial governments to develop their own eligibility criteria. \u00a0This would avoid any further limitation on the ability for the ferry sector to access funding.<\/p>\n
\"Crucial infrastructure projects throughout the country are\u00a0unable to presently qualify under the Building Canada Plan. \u00a0This needs to change in the future,\" stated Mr. Buy.<\/p>\n
Over 55 million passengers and 19 million vehicles travelled on ferries in 2013. [:]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[:en]VANCOUVER, BC \u2013 With the federal election under way, ferry operators look for the next government to address two important priorities that will benefit fare payers and tax payers throughout the country. The Canadian Ferry Association CFA) has identified two issues being of key importance for the sector. \u00a0The first is about \u00a0tariffs for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-releases"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianferry.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianferry.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianferry.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianferry.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianferry.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianferry.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11106\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianferry.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianferry.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianferry.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}