Sorry, but this is one time we can’t say sorry.
Ottawa’s latest extension of the ban on cruise ships in Canadian waters — this time until March 1, 2022 — angered three Alaska politicians to the point that they released a terse statement Friday. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan and Representative Don Young expressed strong disapproval of the move, over concern for their affected constituents in the state.
“Canada’s announcement to ban all cruise sailings carrying 100 people or more travelling through Canadian waters, without so much as a courtesy conversation with the Alaska delegation,” said the angry U.S. Republican delegation to Congress, “is not only unexpected — it is unacceptable — and was certainly not a decision made with any consideration for Alaskans or our economy. We expect more from our Canadian allies.”
Well, we can say “Ouch.”
After No-Sail extensions in May and October 2020, the Canadian government’s new order extends the prohibition of cruise vessels in all Canadian waters through Feb. 1, 2022 as officials continue to “monitor the evolving COVID-19 pandemic and the impact it is having on the marine and tourism sectors.”
Transport Minister Omar Alghabra tweeted the announcement last week:
Today, I announced a 1-year ban on pleasure craft in Canadian Arctic waters and cruise vessels in all Canadian waters, these prohibitions will protect the most vulnerable among our communities and avoid overwhelming our health care systems.
➡️ https://t.co/lwSs4s98uJ— Omar Alghabra (@OmarAlghabra) February 4, 2021
The cruise ship bilateral skirmish between Canada and the U.S. comes just weeks after President Biden revoked the Keystone XL approval that was needed to build oil pipeline to connect Alberta crude to Nebraska. Alberta has already invested $1.5 billion and backed a loan guarantee of $6 billion to line owner TC Energy Inc.
According to the Province of Alberta, the pipe’s construction to the U.S. border — 145 kilometres, plus the 2.2-km border crossing and 17 pumping stations in Canada and the U.S. — has to date supported 2,500 jobs and ancillary work. But that’s a bygone. “If completed,” the province says, “the project would contribute approximately $2.4 billion to Canada’s GDP and generate more than $7 million in property taxes in the first year in service. It’s estimated the project will generate $30 billion in tax and royalty revenues for current and future generations of Albertans.” Not to mention 59,000 jobs.
Ironically, senators, on Jan. 20 Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said in a statement that “for months we’ve been told that the Biden transition team would not communicate with foreign governments on this or other issues. And now a decision has been made without even giving Canada a chance to communicate formally with the new administration. That’s not how you treat a friend and ally.”
There’s a lot of exasperation in those words, too, neighbours.
The government’s latest interim order prohibits:
- all “adventure-seeking” pleasure craft in Arctic waters, but does not apply to local pleasure craft;
- passenger vessels carrying more than 12 people are prohibited in Arctic coastal waters, including those of Labrador;
- of most concern to the cruise industry, cruise vesselscarrying more than 100 people are still prohibited from operating in any Canadian waters.
Individuals who break the pleasure craft prohibition could be fined up to $5,000 per day and groups or corporations can be liable for fines up to $25,000 per day.
Those who break the passenger vessel prohibition could be fined up to $1 million or to imprisonment for a term of up to 18 months, or to both.
While there is no national ban for smaller cruise ships certified to carry fewer than 100 people, they must follow all other health authority protocols for the area they are in.
The government continues to advise Canadians to avoid all travel on cruise ships outside Canada until further notice.
The extension effectively kills the Seattle-Alaska cruise season for foreign-flagged ships, Cruise Industry News says, as it does for ships under foreign flag in other cruise areas such as the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence and the Atlantic provinces.
And therein lies the frustration: It is possible, under U.S. federal law, for U.S.-flagged cruise lines to go non-stop from Seattle to Alaska, but ships that sail between two American ports under foreign flag must call enroute at a Canadian port, such as Victoria. And the larger U.S. cruise lines mostly register with foreign nations — most of Carnival’s ships, for instance, are registered in Panama, and Holland America ships fly the flag of the Netherlands. To circumvent Canada’s new ban, it could be possible for Alaska to request Washington waive that regulation.
“We understand and appreciate the government’s focus on combatting COVID-19 in Canada,” the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) said in a statement. “At the same time, we are surprised by the length of the extension of the No-Sail Order.”
Pointing out that sailings have resumed in Europe and Asia, Bari Golin-Blaugrund, vice-president of strategic communications for CLIA, said the organization stands “ready to work with Canadian health and transportation officials to operationalize a path forward.”
Not only will the cruise lines be affected by the extension, the ports and the regions around them that rely on tourism to sustain them for the balance of the year will feel the effects. Alaska received 2.26 million tourists in 2019, and more than half arrived in the state by cruise ship.
“No matter who you talk to, it was a stunning morning” with Thursday’s announcement, Julie Saupe, president and CEO of Visit Anchorage, told the Anchorage Daily News
“The extension of the ‘no-sail’ order in Canadian waters is likely to have large, negative implications for Alaska visitation in the coming summer,” Saupe said in a written statement, adding that cruises make up about 40 per cent to 50 per cent of overnight leisure visits to Anchorage in the summer.
But the extension will also hurt Canadian businesses in places like Victoria, Quebec City and Halifax that won’t see cruise liners this year. In 2019 in Nova Scotia, for instance, 179 cruise ships carrying more than 300,000 passengers all told stopped in Halifax, and most of those travellers spent money at local restaurants, stores, hotels or inns, or took bus trips out of town to other sites.
Farther north in the province, Marlene Usher, CEO for the Port of Sydney Development Corp., which welcomes travellers cruising around Cape Breton, said the ban means that for the second consecutive year, the port corporation will lose 70 per cent of its revenues. More than 100 ships have already registered sailings for 2022, but many small business owners fear they won’t make it through 2021.
“I was hoping that (the government) would wait further into the year to see if there would be some more progress with a vaccine and possibly cruise could return to some extent,” Usher said.
Related: What Have We Become?:
https://www.alaskahighwaynews.ca/opinion/letters/evan-saugstad-what-have-we-become-1.24279053?fbclid=IwAR3bIfN3j6SRbFDLX3ozA7frpg0E6j4mI7M3_eDj22N8dagDrmQDmu1_PH4
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Well if you dont want to obey then go out past into international waters. By using inside passage you are going through thier waters.
Thinking you could still use the inside passage to get to Alaska by law is a joke and stupid it’s not USA territory any “law” change would not change that period. If you piss them.off more they could ban commercial fishing boats from using passage…. that would collapse the salmon fishery as most fishing boats cant make a passage out into Pacific Ocean many would be lost.