Atlanta-based Alcatraz Media and businessman William M. Windsor are jointly attempting to obtain the billion dollar contract for boat rides under Niagara Falls. The boat rides began in 1846, and there has never been an opportunity for anyone to bid to offer the service until Windsor took legal action against the Province of Ontario and the State of New York. This case is currently being handled by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice under case number DC 09-105JR. more…
Tag-Archive for » maid of the mist «
Category: Local News, Political
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Niagara Fall’s Maid of the Mist will reopen this year, two weeks earlier than last year. April 10th, thanks to the favorable weather conditions.
The Maid of the Mist is the most well known family attraction in Niagara Falls and most Ontarians agree that it is an important part for our tourism industry.
Tours begin 10:00am, departing every 15 minutes, and the tours last about 30 minutes.
http://www.niagarablog.com/maid-of-the-mist-opens-april-10-2010/
Category: General
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The famous ocean liner, RMS Queen Mary, has been brought our of retirement to replace the Maid of the Mist. It docked early this morning and welcomed its first passengers.
No More Line-ups
The 81 ton Queen Mary has the capacity to accommodate 90,000 passengers per hour. That’s 30 times more than the Maid of the Mist.
Category: Jokes, Niagara Photos
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Ontario has engaged independent third-party expertise to assist the Niagara Parks Commission (NPC) in its competitive process for the land lease related to tour boat operations at Niagara Falls.
Following a competitive process, the province has selected Knowles Consultancy Services Inc. as a procurement specialist and PPI Consulting Limited as fairness commissioner. The government has also engaged Capilano Maritime Design Ltd. as naval architect consultant to the competitive process. The duties of these third-party experts will be as follows:
- The procurement specialist will assist NPC with activities associated with the design, development, management and control of the process.
- The fairness commissioner will observe, monitor and oversee the competitive process, and issue a report to the ministry with respect to the fairness of the process.
- The naval architect consultant will provide technical advice that will assist NPC in drafting the competitive process documents. more…
Category: Local News, Political
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Due to a mild winter, the Maid of the Mist boat ride will be able to start operations a little early this season. The start date is scheduled to be April 10, 2010.
Category: Travel
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OTTAWA, March 10, 2010 – The Federal Accountability Initiative for Reform (FAIR), Canada’s whistleblower charity, is pleased to announce the appointment of Niagara Parks Commission whistleblower Bob Gale to its Advisory Board.
“I’m proud to be a part of what FAIR is trying to accomplish.” said Gale. “Employees are often the first to know about wrongdoing that threatens the public interest, but in Canada, as I found out, there is little to protect them if they speak out. We need to correct this absurd situation and I’m confident that we will.” more…
Category: Local News, Political
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Protect our Parks, an activist blog dedicated to protecting the Parks of Southern Ontario, has published this letter to the Premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty.
——-
March 2, 2010
The Honourable Dalton McGuinty Premier of Ontario
This letter will be emailed and served by Registered Mail
Re: Reasonable Apprehension of Bias in Maid of Mist Lease Negotiations
Sir.
First, please let me tell you the reason for this whole letter. It is an embarrassment to the people of the Province of Ontario and your Provincial Government to have allowed the present Board of Commissioners and General Manager of the Niagara Parks Commission to still remain in their present positions with what you and the citizens already know.
Second, I fear that if you respond to this letter you will give me a standard explanation that you are forwarding this to Minister Chan, Tourism Minister. To pass the buck again to a new Tourism Minister who has done nothing to improve the credibility of your Government, nor show the people that the process will be fair, is negligence on your behalf. You already know some of the conflicts and dirty inner workings of the Niagara Parks Commission through this ordeal and you choose not to take control and be a leader, but to hope we all go away. That’s not going to happen unless we are assured a fair, unbiased tendering is done that is transparent in its selection.
Here are some of the facts:
1. The Chairman (Jim Williams) and General Manager (John Kernahan) of NPC were involved in a meeting with the CEO of IMAX in fall of 2006 where an option was presented that IMAX will
build a new attraction at Table Rock fully financed by IMAX. This meeting and all information was suppressed from the Niagara Parks Commissioners and never exposed until I was told in May of
2008. In the mean time the NPC borrowed $38 million to renovate Table Rock and build the attraction “Fury” which has been exposed to be a dismal failure.
Category: Local News, Political
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Code of Conduct
Code of Conduct for the Commissioners and Senior Staff
January 20th, 2010
Memo to: Commissioners & Senior Staff
From: Howard Grant, Fairness Commissioner
PPI Consulting Limited
Re: Restrictions on Lobbying Activities related to the Request for Proposals for Tour Boat Services
I have been hired by the Ministry of Tourism to assist the Niagara Parks Commission with the competitive process for tour boat services. In my role as Fairness Commissioner, I will provide oversight and process advice to ensure fairness throughout the competitive process.
The Niagara Parks Commission has established a Project Team comprised of John Kernahan, Nick Murphy and Joel Noden for the planning, design and advancement of this initiative. From time to time, others in the Commission may also be requested to contribute their expertise to the initiative. more…
Category: Local News, Political
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An Atlanta businessman with eyes on tour boat operations at the base of Niagara Falls has lost a legal battle in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
In a decision rendered earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon denied motions filed by businessman William Windsor in a case involving the owners of the Maid of the Mist Corp. more…
Category: Local News, Political
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The Niagara Parks Commission has released details of how they intend to proceed with opening up the Maid of the Mist (Niagara Falls Boat Tour) operations bid process. Bidders will be able to submit their proposals this spring on merx.com. If you are interested in bidding you should preregister for a information session here.
A copy of the official Niagara Parks Commission press release is available following this jump.
Category: Local News, Political
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NIAGARA FALLS, Ont. — 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 giving the Maid of the Mist Steamboat Company an untendered, 25-year renewal on the contract to operate the boats that ferry tourists from both sides of the international border up to the thundering waterfalls. more…
Category: Local News, Political
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Video of a couple renewing their wedding vows on-board the Maid of the Mist.
I wonder if Pam & Jim got their idea from Malu & Luis?
Category: Niagara Video
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A follow-up to our previous post, the Tourism Minister Monique Smith and Premier McGuinty have forced the commission to open up bidding for the Maid of the Mist lease. Read the full Globe and Mail article here.
Category: Local News
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October 25th will be the final day the Maid of the Mist will be running this year, but it will be back for at least 25 more years. Earlier this month the Niagara Parks Commission extended the lease to the America company for another 25 years. There is controversy around this deal because the offer was not offered to the public in a standard bid process. Apparently some investors would have paid $100 million higher for the lease if they were given the chance.
Here are some photos from Flickr:
Category: General
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Here is an old family film which includes Niagara Falls, Maid of the Mist, the Ford Motor Company and a ship going down the Welland Canal.
Category: Niagara Video
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