Cruise ship discussions off to a good start, tourism minister says

Ensuring the federal government understands the impact of cancelled cruise ships is a vital part of ongoing meetings between Ottawa, the province, and cruise ship industry stakeholders, P.E.I.'s tourism minister says.

So far, three cruise lines have cancelled 10 visits to the Port of Charlottetown due to speed limit changes in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, imposed by the federal government.

Those slower speeds are part of an effort to protect the unusually highnumber of endangered North Atlantic right whales in the gulf.

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Heath MacDonald, P.E.I.'s ministerof tourism, met with industry stakeholders, Charlottetown MP Sean Casey and representatives from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Industry Canada onFriday.

MacDonaldsaid the first meeting wentsmoothly.

'Informative meeting'

"It was a very informative meeting," he said. "We're looking forward to hearing some answers back from the federal government."

One of the larger priorities right now, he said, is to makethe federal government understand the gravity of the cruise ship cancellations in ports throughout the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

"It's not just affectingGasp [Que.]and Prince Edward Island it's going to affect everyone and so we have to bring that to the attention of the federal government and ensure it's a priority for them," MacDonald said.

Timing is 'of the essence'

MacDonald said he'll be reaching out to his provincial counterparts throughout Atlantic Canada.

"Timing right now is of the essence as some of these cruise lines will be planning their itineraries for next year," he added.

"We need to ensure we're doing as much as we can to plan for the future."

Meetings are set to continue in the coming weeks.

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