zoomImage Courtesy: Toronto Public Library

The Government of Canada has conveyed the ownership of the Port of Liverpool, Nova Scotia, to the Province of Nova Scotia under its Ports Asset Transfer Program (PATP).

This is the first port being transferred under the abovementioned program since its launch in April 2015.

With the Liverpool transfer, the ownership of forty-nine ports remains to be transmitted under the program.

The property transferred includes a breakwater and submerged and infilled waterlots, including a portion of the former Bowater Mersey facility.

According to the government, new operators may have greater flexibility to expand or improve port facilities for continued marine operations or for alternate uses that meet local needs.

“Local port ownership opens up new commercial possibilities that allow port facilities to reach their full potential and maximize their contribution to economic growth, job creation and investments in local communities,” Bernadette Jordan, Member of Parliament for South Shore - St. Margarets said.

The National Marine Policy was launched in 1995. Since then, the government has transferred ownership and operations of 500 port facilities to interested parties across the country.

In addition, the Ports Asset Transfer Program aims to facilitate the transfer of the remaining 50 port facilities in Transport Canada’s inventory to local interests.

The interested parties include other federal departments and crown corporations, provincial governments and municipalities and the general public and indigenous groups.