Will Marine Atlantic's commercial rate not being cut impact people in N.L.? Not much, says this trucker
Passenger rates were slashed, but not commercial rates
While passengers riding the Marine Atlantic ferry will see a 50 per cent reduction in the cost of their ticket, commercial passengers and truckers won't see that same benefit.
And while Newfoundland and Labrador's Minister of Jobs says it puts the province at a severe trade disadvantage, one trucker says it likely won't make much of a difference.
"It was no big surprise, really. And it ain't going to impact the everyday lives of people here very much anyway, even if they're reduced," Tony Power, owner of operator of Power Trucking in Holyrood, told CBC News of the decision to not cut commercial rates for Marine Atlantic ferries.
He pays $735 for a one way trip for his 75-foot truck.
"If I reduce the rate to [merchants] for the ferry, they ain't going to take it off for the province anyway. There's just corporate greed across the board."
Other ferries in Atlantic Canada and Quebec saw both commercial and passenger rates slashed in a decision by Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Asked by CBC News why the change didn't apply to Marine Atlantic, St. John's East MP Joanne Thompson said rates needed to be frozen to protect other merchants in the industry.
"Marine Atlantic is part of a broader chain of suppliers that bring commercial product in and out of the province. And we need to protect all players in the field, because we rely on the transfer of products from multiple sources," Thompson said.
In response, Newfoundland and Labrador Jobs Minister Gerry Byrne said not lowering commercial rates goes against the announcement being a way to improve interprovincial trade efforts.
"[Other Atlantic provinces] now have a very, very large competitive advantage over Newfoundland and Labrador in exports, in free trade, in competitiveness. Our economy now just took a blow," Byrne told CBC Radio Thursday.
More passengers, delayed shipments?
Power said he sided with Thompson's comments. He noted that if rates were to drop for travel on Marine Atlantic, other transporters would have to get the same cut and disrupt the overall market.
But although he believes rates not being cut won't affect the price of food on the shelves, it could affect when it gets there — as a likely increase in passenger traffic could lead to less space being available for commercial trucks.
"You're going to have less trucks per vessel," he said.
"Those trucks that were there Tuesday for the [dangerous goods] crossing got to sit there 'till Wednesday. So, like, they got an extra two days on the wharf, which is delaying their products. It all got to come to the island, we got very few options to get to Newfoundland … that traffic got to come across that water."
Power also expressed concerns with loosening interprovincial trade barriers, saying he believes it would impact the ability for local companies to prosper with business coming in from elsewhere.
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With files from On The Go