The future of a proposed ferry between Bedford and Halifax might be on thin ice.
Halifax council is in the middle of budget deliberations and some debate has arisen about the Mill Cove ferry.
District 10 Coun. Kathryn Morse said she’s concerned about the costs associated with the project.
“When council originally approved this, I think we were looking at just over $100 million for this project,” Morse said. “It’s more than doubled, almost tripled, since then.”
Morse also wondered if the money would be better spent elsewhere.
“We’re looking at estimates of moving 3,000 people a day when it’s up and running,” she said. “It’s not a lot of people compared with how much we can move if we had a bigger investment in bus rapid transit or even how much we’re moving already per day with other methods.”
But District 16 Coun. Jean St-Amand said he’s not ready to give up on the project.
“Moving to outright cancel (the ferry) without at least exploring other ways to achieve what this council sought to achieve … that, I’m not comfortable with,” he said.
St-Amand said there’s a “massive amount” of funds coming from other levels of government for the ferry.
“I just find it a little strange that we would consider giving that up without looking at all the potential ways that this project might be managed better,” he said.
Deliberations are expected to continue Friday as council resumes budget talks.
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