Oshawa wins 'Harbour Divestiture 6/49'
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Posted By JOYCE CASSIN Northumberland Today.com
Posted 1 month ago
PORT HOPE -Oshawa received $19.4 million when it took over its harbour from the federal government and Port Hope resident John Floyd says it's like they just won the Harbour Divestiture 6/49...especially when compared to the $300,000 Port Hope received.
But Port Hope chief administrative officer Eugene Todd said Oshawa had different circumstances.
As he indicated on July 13, Todd said, it has been at least 10 years (probably 1997) since the Department of Fisheries and Oceans has had a dredging program for its recreational harbours (such as Port Hope's). Prior to that it would pay money for maintenance dredging on a semi-regular basis.
Since that time there have been occasional periods where some funds would be available to municipalities like Port Hope -- such as when the tallships were here in 2003, said Todd.
"I don't see in the Oshawa scenario any reference to dredging or sediment," he said.
The funds allocated from the Port Hope Area Initiative are not separated out by area, but a significant amount of the material is found in and around the harbour, he said -- in the inner basin, near the Firefighter's Museum or industrial waste on the centre pier, for example.
"If Canada had own the parts of the property being divested, those areas would have been, and will continue to be, part of the overall cleanup and, again, there is no specific dollar amount assigned to individual areas of the cleanup," Todd said.
He said that both Oshawa and Port Hope have contamination to deal with, but on quite a different scale, and both have agreements to have it cleaned up.
Beyond that, Oshawa's marina has not operated since 2002, and most of its activity is industrial based.
Todd also noted that the two communities are dealing with significantly different branches of the federal government. Port Hope is dealing with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and Oshawa is dealing with Transport Canada.
"My complete report will reiterate that the Municipality of Port Hope will, in the future, need to lobby both levels of government for investment in the waterfront -terminology which is quite consistent with the information contained in the Oshawa information," Todd said.
The $9.2 million Oshawa is receiving for environmental cleanup is equivalent to what the federal government is spending on Port Hope's, he said, but as for the $10 million for the rebuilding of wharf, those are funds that Port Hope will have to lobby for when beginning the development of the waterfront and marina.
"They got it up front," Todd said. "We'll be able to use the precedent set in other areas, such as Oshawa, to apply for funding."
Todd said the final $200,000 that Oshawa received for landscaping is equivalent to the $300,000 Port Hope received.
jcassin@northumberland today.com
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