HALIFAX – Community groups and municipalities in eight provinces have come forward with business plans to save a fraction of the lighthouses Ottawa says are no longer needed for navigational purposes.
The federal Fisheries Department says 128 plans were submitted by the June 1st deadline.
The department declared 970 of its active and inactive lighthouses surplus, mainly because mariners now rely on satellite signals to set their courses.
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Spokesman Andrew Anderson says despite the deadline, the department is willing to accept more business plans over the next two years, insisting Ottawa isn’t about to start demolishing or selling off surplus lighthouses.
Of the 128 plans submitted, there are: 50 from Ontario, 29 from Nova Scotia, 20 from PEI, 12 from Quebec, eight from Newfoundland and Labrador, five from New Brunswick, two from Manitoba and two from British Columbia.
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Last week, the department faced sharp criticism from three conservation groups that said the process of transferring ownership of surplus lighthouses under the federal Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act was badly flawed.
Anderson says there are heritage grants available and the department has a one million dollar annual budget set aside to help groups preserve lighthouses.
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