(November 14, 2004) — While U.S. governments tossed millions of dollars at the ferry project and workers were busy constructing an international ferry terminal at the Port of Rochester, Canadians were politely offering their verbal, but not financial, support.

There was no champion for the project in Toronto at the time, Dominick Delucia said about why the company struck out up north.

"It could be that Canadian government assistance just doesn't flow like U.S. government assistance," said the founder and co-owner of the ferry business. "It could be that we weren't politically savvy enough in Canada."

Then came the publicity problem.

Several months before the ferry sailed, the average Toronto resident didn't even know about the venture. The Toronto media didn't pick up the story until Mayor David Miller, who took office in late 2003, started talking about it.

When the media did take notice, some of the publicity wasn't positive.

A Toronto Star columnist said he'd rather go to Guantanamo Bay than Rochester. A Globe and Mail story cited "several important reasons why Torontonians wouldn't ever want to come here."

Plenty of people on this side of the lake also were worried that Toronto wasn't taking the ferry project seriously. Indeed, the Toronto Port Authority didn't start building a temporary terminal until a few weeks before the operation began.

Confident that the ferry service will return, the Port Authority hopes to have the permanent facility open by January.

"We said we're going to have a terminal done and we'll have it done," said Toronto Port Authority CEO Lisa Raitt.

She added: "It seems like everybody wants to do these autopsy stories but the body isn't dead."