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Mayor unhappy with Ferries over cancellation

Queen Charlotte mayor Carol Kulesha Is not happy with BC Ferries over a cancelled sailing.Ferries cancelled the Prince Rupert-Skidegate sailings Thursday (Nov. 5) because of bad weather, but Ms Kulesha says they should have been postponed, not cancelled."I am not very happy and I have expressed it," said Ms Kulesha, "I have no problem with the Captain deciding to not sail because of bad weather, a delay is fine, but it shouldn't be entirely eliminated," she said. Deborah Marshall of BC Ferries said the sailing from Rupert was cancelled due to weather."The decision was made to cancel (the sailing) because of 5 metre seas off of Prince Rupert," she said, "(we) decided to keep the schedule on track by departing for the Port Hardy run and continuing with a Sunday sailing to Skidegate."But Ms Kulesha said this is insufficient as many islanders would not receive mail until Monday, would be unable to leave for the weekend, and that nothing had come to or left the islands since the last sailing Tuesday morning (Nov. 3).There was some speculation the sailing was cancelled because of last week's low tides, which may have made crossing the Sandspit bar impossible, but Ms Marshall said that wasn't the case.The ferry now will leave Rupert at 9:00 pm Sunday, and arrive in Skidegate at 5:00 am, then depart Skidegate at 9:00 am Monday.