Smiths Falls houseboat operator wants level playing field

A houseboat operator is crying foul when it comes to Rideau Canal cruises.

Don Sharman claims a new houseboat rental company in Smiths Falls known as Le Boat, which started operations in Smiths Falls in May, is getting special treatment from the Canadian government.

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The boat rental company based out of the U.K. has received several investments from different levels of Canadian government, including a $146,000 investment in new docks from the town of Smiths Falls and a $1.5 million grant over five years from the Eastern Ontario Development Fund.

Sharman says the playing field has changed now that the European-based operator has come onboard.

“There’s lots of grants out there for them. They’re very lucky because we’ve tried and we’ve never received any.”

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The managing director of Le Boat, Cheryl Brown, says people need to understand why they’re not meeting the criteria for those grants.

She also said that Le Boat has invested $16 million of their own money to start up shop in Smiths Falls, something she hopes will pay off once the international market catches wind of how beautiful the Rideau Canal is.

Nevertheless, Sharman questions the new docks Smiths Falls built for exclusively for Le Boat use.

The mayor of Smiths Falls Shawn Pankow says it was a group effort, including a $75,000 investment from the United Counties of Leeds Grenville, that financed the construction of the new dock just as Le Boat came calling.

“That was our investment in attracting and enabling Europe’s largest boating company to come to Canada and look at the Rideau Canal.”

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According to Brown, Le Boat has 18,000 launches a year Europe-wide, and although they have just opened in May in Smiths Falls, over 70 per cent of their trips have been sold, and a large number of those trips were sold to customers from outside of Canada.

Pankow says the investment made  in the U.K. boating company will be multiplied a hundredfold with the effort that Le Boat is making and spending globally to attract people to come to the Rideau Canal area.