Untangling Maid of the Mist lease

From the Buffalo News: The low point of the Maid of the Mist Steamboat Co.’s century-old existence undoubtedly took place last month, when Canadian officials selected a California company to replace it on the Canadian shore. But for the local company that grew itself into an iconic international tourism brand, the pain may not be…

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Competition for boat tour operator evolving, NPC says

From the Niagara Falls Review: The Niagara Parks Commission will keep tweaking its process for picking a boat tour operator while it moves toward a Nov. 24 target deadline for companies to submit their bids to run Niagara River boat tours, general manager John Kernahan says. A month after the provincial agency launched a competition…

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Ontario nearly ready for tenders on Maid of the Mist tour boats in Niagara Falls

From the Canadian Press (via Penticton Herald): Getting competitive bids for one of the world’s oldest and most famous tourist attractions – the Maid of the Mist boats in Niagara Falls – may not be as straight forward a proposal as the Ontario government hopes. The Niagara Parks Commission came under fire last year for…

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Williams goes out fighting

From the Niagara Falls Review: The way Ontario Tourism Minister Monique Smith wants to tender the right to run boat tours on the Niagara River will harm the Niagara Parks Commission, Niagara Falls’ tourism industry and tourism provincewide, says former Niagara Parks Commission chairman Jim Williams. He’s not going quietly after resigning his $250-a-day government-…

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PARKS CHAIRMAN RESIGNS

From the Niagara Falls Review: Jim Williams stepped down as Niagara Parks Commission chairman Thursday over a dispute with Tourism Minister Monique Smith’s support for him, and over his “grave concerns” about an historic bidding process she ordered that could see the Maid of the Mist Steamboat Co., replaced as operator of boat tours on…

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Reopening boat lease fraught with danger

From the Niagara Falls Review: Premier Dalton McGuinty sailed into uncharted waters, forcing the Niagara Parks Commission to put its lease with the Maid of the Mist out to tender. If he doesn’t navigate carefully, he risks steering the Niagara Falls tourism industry right onto the rocks. Jaws dropped in Niagara Falls last Wednesday when…

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Parks to finish review of Maids lease by Oct. 1

From the Niagara Falls Review: Members of the Niagara Parks Commission will complete a government- ordered review of its lease with the Maid of the Mist Steamboat Co. “no later than Oct. 1,” chairman Jim Williams says. Commissioners met last week to consider advice from the provincial government and their own legal staff, and to…

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