'This one's on you,' Hsu tells transportation minister over Wolfe Island ferry debacle

Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) Ted Hsu made good on a promise to confront Ontario Minister of Transportation Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria about the ongoing Wolfe Island Ferry debacle.

Hsu, the Liberal MPP for Kingston and the Islands, spoke to Kingstonist by phone on the afternoon of Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025, about the face-to-face confrontation he arranged with the minister that morning, just before Question Period, at the provincial legislature in Toronto.

At issue was the suspension of the Wolfe Island Ferry service Monday night due to a shortage of licensed crew --- a suspension that caused some prospective passengers to be stranded overnight. The public was only notified of the disruption 90 minutes in advance. 

On Monday, Oct. 27, 2025, at about 5:30 p.m., the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO) announced through social media channels, Ontario 511, and its email list that, “Due to a current shortage of crew, we regret that the Wolfe Island Ferry service will be temporarily suspended. Our last run from Marysville will be at 1820h, and the last run from Kingston will be 1900h. Service will resume from Marysville at 0500h Tuesday, October 28.”

Unfortunately, not everyone got the memo, leading to several social media stories of individuals stranded on one side of the mouth of the St. Lawrence or the other. 

On the Wolfe Island Ferry Public Update and issue Page on Facebook, a Wolfe Island resident reported that an Amazon delivery driver was among those stranded on the Wolfe Island side: “I just had several Amazon deliveries to my door just after 9 p.m. This guy has been delivering all over the Island this afternoon and evening. So if that ferry is not running, he has to sleep in his vehicle overnight, and it is pretty damned cold tonight.”

Luckily for the stranded worker, another Islander approached him to offer him a bed for the night.

On the Facebook page, others suggested it was time for a lawsuit against the MTO. Still others questioned the safety of the situation should a medical emergency arise. Frontenac Islands Mayor Judy Greenwood-Speers took to social media to assure citizens that 911 was still operational and that a plan was in place, without providing any details.

Some social media commenters seemed to be confusing two separate issues, criticizing the electric ferry and calling it a waste of tax dollars, when in fact the problem was not with the boat itself but with a lack of crew (though Wolfe Island residents have been plagued by ferry service issues for years now, all culminating around the arrival and implementation of the new ferry).

On Tuesday morning, Hsu too criticized the provincial government on social media, saying the crew shortage is a long-standing issue that has affected the operation of both the Wolfe Islander III and the rollout of the Wolfe Islander IV. He called out Transportation Minister Sarkaria for failing to invest sufficiently in crew training for Great Lakes vessels, and he highlighted the ongoing four-year delay in completing the Kingston ferry dock. Hsu said he planned to confront the minister at Queen’s Park and urged the government to pursue practical solutions to prevent future service disruptions.

The moment came just before Question Period. 

“As soon as he walked in, I grabbed him, and we had a conversation in the middle of the chamber there,” Hsu said Tuesday afternoon, adding that meeting with ministers is often tricky.

“I told him about the stories that I heard from constituents last night and this morning [being stranded on one side of the crossing or the other], and I said, 'This one's on you.'”

Hsu explained that the blame for the most recent ferry failure falls directly on the minister. 

“It's not some technical engineering thing that went wrong, or some equipment broke. This issue concerns the lack of licensed crew, which is a long-standing problem; [the Ministry has] known it for several years,” the MPP told Kingstonist.

“With the Wolfe Islander III, there was an issue a couple of years ago where we showed that the Ministry of Transportation was hiring temporary workers and paying them twice the regular salary of workers. So that shortage of workers is expensive, and it also affected the commissioning of the Wolfe Islander IV and all the testing and the training. It is hard to take people off and train them because they are needed to run the ferry service.” 

“We've known about this problem for years," he reiterated, "and what I told the minister is 'It's on you, it's on you personally, and on your ministry.'"

“They need to put money into recruiting and training and making sure that we have enough crew," Hsu emphasized.

Hsu also said he made it clear that the MTO needs to let people know as early as possible that there might be a ferry problem. 

“I said, 'Don't be embarrassed, the people on Wolfe Island just want to know if you might be having a problem.' They don't want to know only an hour before... and then they are stuck on one side of the water or the other, because they weren't able to plan… People have told me --- on Wolfe Island and in Kingston --- 'Just let us know so we can plan.'"

 The MPP also took the opportunity to remind Sarkaria that on Pelee Island, there is a 24/7 paramedic contingent. Given the amount of disruption caused by Wolfe Island Ferry issues, and then paramedic calls sometimes further disrupting the ferry schedule, Hsu said he asked the minister to "consider paying for having paramedics on call on Wolfe Island, at least until the Kingston ferry dock is finished.”

According to Hsu, Sarkaria said that sounded "like a good idea." 

Of course, Hsu doesn’t know whether his message will be taken to heart, but he said he intends to keep the pressure on.

Kingstonist reached out to Minister Sarkaria’s office and the MTO for comment, asking the ministry why the lack of crew and subsequent suspension of Wolfe Island ferry service Monday night was allowed to happen. The ministry and minister were also asked for comment on Sarkaria's discussion with Hsu earlier in the day on Tuesday.

Around 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025, the MTO responded via email.

"The Wolfe Islander IV was temporarily out of service last night. Service resumed as scheduled at 5 a.m. on Tuesday, October 28. The ministry made the announcement as soon as possible," said Tanya Blazina, Senior Media Relations representative for the ministry.

"We appreciate passengers’ patience and understanding during this disruption and remain committed to providing reliable service."