St-Pierre ferry moving tourists but no cars, as dock dispute continues

The narrow streets of St-Pierre-Miquelon are filled with colourful housesandan easygoing European vibe, but six weeks after it launchedits two brand new ferries able to carrytraffic between the French territory and Newfoundland, there isn't a Canadian licence plate in sight.

A funding shortfall to upgrade the ferry landingin the small Burin Peninsula town of Fortune has left the $25-million ferries incapable of loading cars on the Newfoundland side.

"We have an important problem in Fortune", says Stphane Lenormand, president ofSt-Pierre-Miquelon's territorial government.

"As of 2015, when we began building these new ferries, we approached the port authority in Fortune to prepare for their arrival. But unfortunately, in October of 2017,the project stalled because of a lack of financing."

The provincial and federal governments have kicked in a portion of the funding, butthe rest possibly as much as$2 million must be raised by Fortune's volunteer-run port authority.

The Fortune Port Authority declined to comment to CBC News for this story, but Fortune Mayor Charles Penwell said the lack of a solutionis hurting his community.

"All the pressure comes back on the port authority," he said.

"They can get a loan to cover it [but] they're a volunteer committee of local fishermen who are not willing to put their financial state on the line, and they don't want to put the financial state of our port on the line."

Lack of support

Despite the rocky start to the new ferry service, the president of the territorial government doesn't hold ill willtowardsthe port authority on the other side.

"The port corporation is a volunteer organization handling a large economic development file," saidLenormand.

"That's part of the problem. The file is very complex and this is a big sum of money for them."

• New ferries arrive forSt-Pierre-Miquelon

ForPenwell, it's becoming a frustrating problem without any further support from the provincial or federal government.

"It's been ongoing too long," he said."The ferry is running. Work needs to be started. If we started workit would be next season really until we can handle traffic."

'A car would have been nice'

Meanwhile, tourists are walking on the new boats and leaving their cars parked in Fortune, the same way the ferry service operated for decades with itsold boats.

"The car would have been nice," said John Brent,while aboard the ferry with his wife, Gisele. The couple from Saskatchewanwere ontheir way back to Fortune after a vacation in St-Pierre-Miquelon.

"I think it would have added to the trip to see the area, to see more of the island than we did," Gisele said."It would have definitely added a nice touch."

Business owners on St-Pierre-Miquelonare keen to see tourists arrive in vehicles to their island.

The self-governing territoryhas an area of 242 square kilometres and a population of around 6,000 people, mostly centred in the community of St-Pierre. It packs a piece of Franceinto every cornerof the islands, the locals say.

"We have kept our French culture," said Cathy Simon, a boutique owner."People don't have to cross the Atlantic. France is a just over an hour from home."

But despite St-Pierre-Miquelon'srelatively small area, Simon said there is plentyto discover beyond walking distance.

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