Construction on a new ferry that would run between Prince Edward Island to Nova Scotia, first announced in 2019, has been on pause for about six months.

The ship would replace the MV Holiday Island, which had to be scrapped after a fire on board in 2022.

But in a Feb. 17 statement to Radio-Canada that CBC News translated from French, Transport Canada — which owns the vessels that make the Northumberland Strait crossings — said all work related to the new ferries has been on hold since July 2025. 

In a separate statement this week, the agency said new decisions are required before work can resume — but didn’t provide any further details.

Kent MacDonald, the Liberal MP for P.E.I.’s Cardigan riding, said some some of those changes involve infrastructure upgrades at both Wood Islands, P.E.I., and Caribou, N.S., where the ferries dock on either side of the strait.

The changes include a new breakwater at Wood Islands to stop the channel from filling in with sand and silt, and changes to the docks on both sides in order to accommodate the new ferry.

But MacDonald said he doesn’t have a timeline for when those fixes will be complete.

“Last year and the year before, the public had some disruptions in the service that was provided. And we’re trying to address those requirements first,” he said, adding that P.E.I. Premier Rob Lantz recently spoke with Prime Minister Mark Carney in Ottawa, and both are committed to the long-term viability of the Wood Islands-Caribou, N.S. ferry service. 

“We’re trying to fix some of those peripheral issues around the docks and the channel … to create a long-term, reliable service.”

Transport Canada originally said the Holiday Island replacement would be finished by 2027, then pushed the date back to 2028. As of last fall, it was no longer providing a firm timeline for when the ship would be ready.

The new vessel is being built at the Chantier Davie shipyard in Quebec, and is one of two replacement ferries for eastern Canada. The other will replace MV Madeleine, which runs between the Magdalen Islands and Souris, P.E.I. — work on that ferry has also been paused.

The federal government has already spent nearly $40 million on development for the two vessels. That’s on top of the almost $40 million it spent on MV Northumberland, which Transport Canada bought to use alongside MV Confederation on the Nova Scotia-P.E.I. ferry run last summer.

Neither of those ferries is new. Confederation is 32 years old, while Northumberland is 18.

Trish Carter, owner of Galla Designs in Wood Islands, said she is “disheartened” to hear work on the new ferry had been suspended.

“It’s been an ongoing battle. Part of me wants to say I’m not surprised, the other part of me wants to cry,” she said, describing the ferry system as “pivotal” to life in eastern P.E.I.

“It’s not just about getting us as people on and off the Island, it’s also about bringing economic supplies to the Island.”

Carter said there was excitement in the area when MV Northumberland arrived last year. But unless a plan is put in place to replace MV Confederation, she said, the community will soon be back to a one-ferry service.

She said the unreliability of the service in recent years has hurt her business, and is urging Islanders to reach out to their government representatives to voice their support for the ferries.

“I’m very concerned. I’m very frustrated with the government. The government is the one that has come up with this,” she said.

“I am very much an optimistic person. I try to be happy. I’m struggling. I’m struggling with optimism. You know, the government really needs to figure this out.”

I feel like I’ve done this interview 100 times now.– Darlene Compton, P.E.I. MLA

Belfast-Murray River MLA Darlene Compton said she is “concerned, but I guess not surprised” to hear the new ferry is paused.

She questioned whether both Northumberland and Confederation will be in service for the entire 2026 season, noting the latter ship is aging.

Compton said she’s looking to the federal government and Northumberland Ferries Limited, which operates the service, to “come up with a solution.”

“I feel like I’ve done this interview 100 times now,” she said. “Service isn’t any better, we’re not getting answers, and as a province we’re willing to work with the feds to make sure that we have the service.”

Compton noted that if the Confederation Bridge was rendered unusable, P.E.I. “would be in a real mess.”

“It’s part of the jurisdiction of being a province that we have two ways on and off,” she said. ‘We need to ensure that the ferry service is one of those.”

The Northumberland Ferries sailing season is scheduled to resume May 1.