Sydney Chamber of Commerce awaiting cruise ship berth addition

The chairof the Sydney and Area Chamber of Commerce says he's eager to see a second berth added to the Joan Harris CruisePavilionto allow the cruise ship industry in Sydney to continue to grow.

In a year-end interview with Information Morning Cape Breton,Bruce Meloneysaid progress has been slow and cited recent elections as the culprit.

"Now that we have two levels of government with mandates to do somethingI think that we have some very good people electedI think that there's an opportunity now to move [on] that faster," he said.

Meloneysaidhe thinks Mayor Cecil Clarke and council should workwith local investorssuch as Parker Rudderham and MartyCherninto move things along.

To help give Sydney's downtown a boost,moving part of the Nova Scotia Community College there would provide a needed anchor for the area, said Meloney.

Commercial tax reform

He would also like to see work done on tax reform.The Cape Breton Regional Municipality has the highest commercialtax rates in Nova Scotia, which makes it difficult to attract new businesses to the area, saidMeloney.

He saidthe mayor and council need to get a variety of stakeholders togetherincluding the province and the Sydney and Area Chamber of Commerceandcome up with creative solutions.

Meloney would like to see lower commercial tax rates.

"We're not opposed to paying taxes, and we're not expecting that ours should be cut in half, but I think that there has to be a way that's good for everybody," he said.

Meloney praised the municipality for cutting red tape for businesses, but said the changes aren't happening fast enough.