Wolfe Island residents are demanding answers after the second ferry shutdown in a week.
The Wolfe Islander 3 had to be pulled out of service Sunday night because of a staff shortage.
Complicating the issue was a medical emergency on the island overnight and then mechanical issues delaying the ferry service resumption Monday morning.
“This is holding a hostage of 1,400 community members,” Frontenac Islands, Ont., Mayor Judy Greenwood Speers said.
Greenwood Speers is upset after a patient having a medical emergency was made to wait for help because the Wolfe Island ferry couldn’t run due to the staffing shortage.
The coast guard had to be called in.
“Left the island an hour and five minutes after the call came in,” Greenwood Speers said. “If that’s a heart attack patient that’s a fatality, usually.”
The Wolfe Island Ferry was offline Sunday evening from about 8 p.m., according to the Ministry of Transportation, because there weren’t enough workers to run it. It’s the second time in the span of a week.
“What’s frustrating is we can’t get answers from the people that’s supposed to know what’s going on,” Wolfe Island resident William Henderson said.
To make matters worse, at 6 a.m. Monday when staff were available to operate the ferry, mechanical issues kept it docked for another three hours.
A woman tells Global News her son was late for work because he was stranded on the island after visiting her for Mother’s Day.
“He’s missed half a day of work now,” Sherry Zborovsky said. “The lineup probably could have filled three boatloads this morning easily by about 7:30.”
Greenwood Speers says the staffing shortages have to stop, and blames an ongoing labour dispute for the trouble.
“They’ve been using contract workers and apparently they did not keep going with the contract workers because this is a unionized environment, I assume,” Greenwood Speers said.
“This is not acceptable and both parties as far as I’m concerned are at fault for this.”
Kingston and the Islands MPP Ted Hsu says he raised the issues in the legislature and spoke to Ontario Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney before question period Monday afternoon.
“There’s a severe staff problem not only at the Wolfe Island ferry but across the province and this government has to deal with that really quickly,” Hsu said.
The medical emergency underlines what is at stake for island residents. Greenwood Speers says she’s left messages for OPSEU and has been talking to the MTO to try and pressure them to solve the ongoing issues before there are more severe outcomes.
Comments