DIGBY, N.S. – After years of haggling, Ottawa has agreed to extend funding of the ferry service between Digby and Saint John for three more years.

Details of the package are still forthcoming.

The Bay of Fundy Transportation Coalition — comprised of regional businesses, including trucking firms – welcomed the news, saying that the funding lifeline provides more time to prepare a business case for a longer term commitment.

In its announcement, the federal government acknowledged how vital the ferry service is to the local economy, specifically to the multimillion-dollar seafood industry in southwestern Nova Scotia.

The service, which already gets about $32 million from the current federal budget, has been in peril for years. It’s been kept afloat with periodic cash infusions from both levels of government (about $23 million over the last four years) while Transport Canada considered the long-term viability of the service.

The Bay of Fundy Transportation Coalition wants this service treated similarly to Marine Atlantic, which is a Crown corporation.

Careful, they might get what they wish for.