After a year without commercial boat cruises on the downtown part of the Rideau Canal, tourist trips along the heritage waterway will begin again in 2016.
Paul’s Boat Lines, which ran tours on this high-profile section of the canal from 1949 to 2014, did not reach a contractual agreement last year to renew its longstanding arrangement with Parks Canada, which maintains and operates the canal.
As a result, Parks Canada opened up bids to other companies in early 2015 to draw up a new contract for boat tours. The reviewing committee comprised representatives from Parks Canada, the National Capital Commission, the City of Ottawa and Ontario’s Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport.
Three companies placed bids for a tour-operating contract, and Gatineau-based service Ottawa Boat Cruise, was selected.
In September, Ottawa Boat Cruise announced that it had acquired Paul’s Boat Lines and will rename its vessels the “World’s Famous Paul’s Boat Lines.”
The contract, says Parks Canada, will allow the company to run commercial boat tours from Hartwell Locks near Carleton University to the Rideau Canal Locks.
OBC president Robert Taillefer says the company will run sightseeing boat tours with stops at noteworthy sites such as Dow’s Lake and the National Arts Centre.
In addition to sightseeing tours with historical interpretation, Ottawa Boat Cruise will also offer private cruise bookings, says Taillefer.
Hunter McGill, chair of Merrickville-based nonprofit Friends of the Rideau, says the organization is in favour of new cruises on the canal.
“We think that it’s really great that the canal cruises in the city of Ottawa are going to be revived,” says McGill. “Many people who visited us in Merrickville over the summer said how much they missed it.”
Taillefer, whose father founded Ottawa Boat Cruise in 1980, says a second vessel will be built for cruises along the canal to accommodate for the expected demand for both sightseeing tours and private events.
Parks Canada and Ottawa Boat Cruise will finalize a 42-year contract in about a month, says Taillefer.