original article form The Buffalo News
Order to open bidding could impact business on both sides of border
NIAGARA FALLS — Maid of the Mist tours will soon launch for their 125th consecutive summer, but a festering controversy over the attraction’s Canadian and American leases has cast uncertainity over the future of the famous boats.
Could this be the last season for the American family that has owned the company since 1971?
A political firestorm in Ontario over a secretive parks commission process that has given the Glynn family exclusive rights to offer boat tours below the falls has led the government to order open, competitive bidding for the Canadian shore lease for the first time — a move that also could have implications for the family’s New York operation. (more…)