The provincial government is standing by its election promise to bolster the provincial ferry fleet by building vessels locally.

Last fall, Tony Wakeham vowed to add four new ferries to the intra-provincial fleet – two to be built locally and two to be bought or leased.

However, questions remain about shipbuilding capacity in the province.

Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Barry Petten was asked yesterday about whether he would still like to build ferries here, to which he replied, “Why not?”

“People get caught up in the fact that we are building ships; it seems like it’s a bit obscure. But we’re trying to build an industry,” he told reporters.

“We’re surrounded by water. We have a demand for ferries. There’s a demand in the world. Why are we going out with RFPs and not finding a ferry?”

“So why do we have to go to the other side of the world? I mean, we have some issues with tariffs on steel, but why not try it?”

He says money will be included in the budget to contract a swing vessel.