April 2013
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Boaters to navigate fee hikes By Kim Goggins It’s not uncommon to see Glenn and Rosalind Watson cruising along the TrentSevern Waterway most summer weekends with their beagle ‘Ruby’ earnestly looking out from their boat. “It’s the best time we have as a couple, working as a team out on the boat,” said Glenn. Boating on the Trent-Severn is a privilege that many in this area have grown used to in the summer, but significant fee hikes proposed by Parks Canada may see more boaters staying on their dock and many businesses seeing a decrease in traffic. Boaters who use the TSW and businesses along the system have not been pleased since Parks Canada announced in January that changes to the fee structure were coming to help them capture an additional $1 million in revenue each year. Initially, they set out a plan to take away the payment system as it is now — along with one-day, six-day and season passes — and introduce tickets. But due to the negative feedback they received even before the consultation process came to an end on Feb. 18, 2013, the government department withdrew its initial ticket structure suggestion and posted a proposal for a direct cost per lock system that will continue providing season passes, as well as one and six-day passes. Despite these concessions, Watson and others say the proposed fee hikes are still too high. Last summer, a season’s pass to go through the locks and moor his 25-foot Sea
and 45 in this area) it will be 60 cents per foot and 90 cents per foot for one-way passage through a Level 2 lock (Lock 44 in this area). The cost for a one-day pass will increase to $2.40 per foot, the six-day pass will increase about 43 percent, from $5.05 per foot currently, to $7.20 foot, and the Season Pass will increase about 70 percent, from $8.80 per foot to $15 per foot. Initially, the one-day pass was taken out, but according to Genevieve Patenaude, media relations officer for Parks Canada, it was reintroduced into the fee structure proposal, following a review of the suggestions by Canadians throughout the consultation process, where they heard from more than 800 people. Continued page 9 Photo: Ros Watson ‘Ruby’ enjoys some board time when stopped for a swim.
Ray would have cost him $464, but these proposed increases will have that number jump to $875 by 2014. “It’s going to affect our boating quite a bit,” he said. “Right now, for overnight mooring, it’s $22.50 for my boat and it’s going to go to $31.25, and that’s with no real services. There’s no hydro to hook up to. At some of the locks, there are no roads in or out. So you’re just there for the night, running off your battery.” The Parks Canada proposal will see a 33-to-50 percent increase in lockage fees. For one-way passage through a Level 1 lock (locks 42, 43
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