Ports Burwell, Stanley pursue same submarine

July 22, 2010

OURISM: The HMCS Ojibwa will be an exhibit of the Elgin Military Museum, mounted on land in an Elgin port with a museum alongside
By CHIP MARTIN, The London Free Press

Two Lake Erie ports have become rival sub chasers.
Port Burwell is after the same Cold War-era Canadian submarine that federal funds were expected to bring to Port Stanley, 35 km to the west.
“We are actively pursuing it, that’s for sure,” Port Burwell resident Doug Lester confirmed Wednesday.
Lester, president of the Otter Valley Chamber of Commerce and member of a committee dealing with harbour issues for Bayham council, said pursuit of HMCS Ojibwa has just begun.

“We’re not into some sort of life or death duel with our sister port up the lake,” he stressed, but Port Burwell (pop. 1,100) is anxious to land that boat as a tourist magnet.

Last week, Bayham Mayor Lynn Acre submitted a formal “expression of interest” in the Ojibwa to the Elgin Military Museum.

With the help of MP Joe Preston (Con. — Elgin-Middlesex-London), the museum was awarded $1.9 million in federal funds to rescue the decommissioned Ojibwa, now lying in Halifax, from the scrapyard.

The submarine would be mounted on land alongside a museum.

Preston predicted many Great Lake ports would want the tourist attraction if Central Elgin, where Port Stanley (pop. 2,200) is located, decided to take a pass.

A sister submarine for the Ojibwa, the HMCS Onondaga, attracted 91,000 visitors last year to its new home last year in Rimouski, Que.

It’s expected the Ojibwa would draw 100,000 visitors a year.

The decision about which port will become Ojibwa’s new home must be made within about 30 days, said Ian Raven, curator of the Elgin Military Museum. “We have to weigh the pluses and minuses of both,” he said. But because the Ojibwa must be on the move by next March 31, the decision cannot be delayed.

Central Elgin at first expressed interest in the sub and has referred the issue to its lawyers because Mayor Tom Marks said it wants to be “cautious.”

Raven said the museum is “flattered” both communities want the Oberon-class, diesel-electric sub launched in 1965.

“Bayham is enthusiastic and Central Elgin is cautious,” he noted.

Concept drawings presented by Bayham are “impressive, he said, adding Port Burwell “is certainly a viable option.”

E-mail chip.martin@sunmedia.ca