Maid of the Mist lease ordered reopened
Ontario calls for competitive bidding
NIAGARA FALLS, Ont.—The Ontario government Wednesday ordered the Niagara Parks Commission to reopen a lease for land used by the Maid of the Mist Steamboat Co. to competitive bidding.
A written statement issued Wednesday afternoon by Ontario’s Ministry of Tourism said the agency expects a competitive bidding process to be completed by the spring.
The recommendation is the latest action in a yearlong controversy over the Maid of the Mist’s lease to dock boats on Ontario land.
“Our government believes opening the lease to a competitive process upholds our principles of openness and transparency,” Ontario Minister of Tourism Monique M. Smith said in the statement. “It ensures all interested parties get the opportunity to submit proposals in a fair and open competition.”
The company’s Ontario lease has been at the center of controversy since a board member of the Niagara Parks Commission, Bob Gale, resigned last year in protest over the way the commission renegotiated and renewed the agreement without soliciting other proposals.
Gale had charged that the process was not transparent and was unfair to other potential competitive bidders.
The Maid of the Mist’s Ontario lease was signed in 1988 and will expire next month.
Tim Ruddy, vice president of marketing for the Maid of the Mist, said in a written statement issued late Wednesday that the company is “very disappointed that the Ontario government has placed its long-standing and mutually beneficial working relationship with the Niagara Parks Commission in jeopardy.
“The Maid of the Mist will take whatever actions are necessary to enable it to continue its operation of the iconic Maid of the Mist boat tours for the enjoyment of visitors from around the world,” Ruddy said. “All options will be under consideration.”
Ruddy said the company will continue to work with the Niagara Parks Commission under its existing lease.
The Maid of the Mist has held exclusive rights to operate tourist boats in the water directly below Niagara Falls for more than a century.
The company negotiates separate leases with the Ontario provincial government and the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation in New York State. It stores all of its boats off-season on the Canadian side. Its contract on the American side is one of only two 40-year concession agreements given by state parks. That lease was renewed in 2002 without public bidding and does not expire until 2043.
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