30 May A case of regulation run amok

Posted at 11:23h in That's life by

Well, whoop-dee-do! The Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board has granted a charter bus company permission to use five additional buses when servicing cruise ships that visit Sydney.

This UARB decision required:

  • Notice in two daily newspapers and the Nova Scotia Gazette
  • A detailed application by the charter company
  • A two-day hearing in the UARB’s Halifax office, 400 km from Sydney
  • The time and attention of three UARB commissioners, a UARB lawyer, and a lawyer for the bus company
  • Testimony by the Sydney Ports Corporation, the Halifax Port Authority; Destination Halifax; the Tourism Industry Association of Nova Scotia, the Halifax Chamber of Commerce; and the Sydney & Area Chamber of Commerce.
  • A further 20 days to deliberate and write a 39 page decision (featuring an exhaustive dissent by Commissioner Dawna Ring).
  • Written submissions by an unknown number of third parties.

The need for additional buses to serve Sydney cruise ship passengers was beyond obvious. One cruise ship company, Norwegian Cruise Lines, had cancelled stops in Sydney for the next two years because government regulation prevents the Sydney Ports Corporation from furnishing enough buses to provide day trips sought by its passengers. No one appears to have opposed the application (aside from Commissioner Ring).

Think we might be over-governed here?

I am not generically opposed to government regulation. But isn’t the number of buses that serve cruise ships visiting ports in Nova Scotia a matter that could sensibly be left to companies carrying out this business?