Cornwall ON – Stephen Harper wants to sell you a light house. This one, probably the most famous in Canada is Peggy’s Cove. I visited it once and it’s a beautiful and stunning piece of Canada.
The federal government is posting a for sale sign on almost a thousand of Canada’s lighthouses, including beloved Peggy’s Cove, in Nova Scotia. This news despite the promises last year of Fisheries Minister Gail Shea to complete a comprehensive review of Canadian lighthouses.
The Green Party of Canada is calling on the government to continue staffing lighthouses on the east and west coasts of Canada and to protect other lighthouses as public assets and as part of Canada’s cultural heritage.
“Canadians value keeping our heritage areas like lighthouses in public hands. We don’t want to have to pay a fee for our children to experience our history,” said Green Leader Elizabeth May. “The Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act is obviously a misnomer,” said May.
Under the Act, community groups could apply for ownership of the lighthouses, however there is no associated funding for maintaining the buildings.
“Lighthouses are a source of pride for coastal communities and the tourism benefits alone justify their maintenance and indeed, their enhancement,” said May. “A steel pole with a light will definitely not attract any tourists. Personally, I’d rather see funding go to preserve a real Canadian lighthouse than to build a fake lake.”
What do you think Canada? Should we be auctioning off our heritage to the highest bidder? You can post your comments below.
Someone interested in Canadian heritage could always buy it. As with any “Heritage” building there are rules and regulations for the upkeep. The owners pay for the repairs themselves and should not expect the government to pay. Lets face it, we ask too much from the government as it is, they cannot carry us from cradle to grave forever! The whiners will try to convince us otherwise!
The government has placed stipulations on the sale. They want to the light houses maintained and kept in order . It would not be an out right sell for scrap.
I wish I could afford one, maybe after Friday nites draw. However, I think light houses like other goverment entites should be sold off. If people are interested in heritage then perhaps they could spend the time and money on maintenance.
And we hear from two conservatives more than willing to sell off Canadian heritage. Hasn’t Harper sold enough of Canada to the US? Do we have to get rid of all of our culture to satisfy the Conservatives drive to become Americanized?
George W is gone. Harper can take his nose out of his butt now.
Hahaha!! Nice comment Reg! 😀 It is too bad that slowly, our history and historical locations are being killed off one by one. Would be nice to see a group get together to buy this facility and save it, keep it going. But yes, this push to make us Americanized has to stop. Only 2 good things we should implement from there, 8 year terms max in parliament, and an impeachment process for the lying bunch of cronies we have in government here now!
It is interesting that with nearly 1000 lighthouses being listed as surplus, one would be picked to agitate the masses. Today with GPS, modern radio and other technology, many of these are nice to haves. If you could choose shorter hospital wait times or knowing a lighthouse you will never see is operating, which would you choose.
Canada trades over 1 billion dollars a day with the US, think of it as importing their money!
Peggy’s Cove Lighthouse? Come on! This is one of the most famous we have and of course its going to come out in the spotlight. Yes, all these modern amenities are a nice thing to have, but that doesn’t mean we should kill off a piece of our history. I would of course rather shorter hospital wait times, but perhaps the 1.2 – 2 billion that is going to be spent on this sham of a G20 would have been better put towards that then the drop in a bucket this lighthouse would produce. Think about it.
And Id be willing to bet that the US is importing a lot more of our money then we are theirs. And last I checked, I want this to remain CANADA!
Canadian heritage and culture is a light house? Or is there more to it then that??
Reg, can you point me to the proof what the present government has sold to the US, and maybe another document that lists things from previous governments?
And of course, I will know if it is good proof, because if it is good proof it is because it is proven.
I think this could very well be a good thing. It would give a chance to the people living around these landmarks to have greater control over their heritage sites. The last thing you really want is Ottawa telling you what your heritage is.
As for the sale being part of a plan to Americanize us I think that is insane. I suppose some of you guys would be shocked to learn that the US has lighthouses too!!! They are not strictly Canadiana!!
If Harper is in any way trying to Americanize us is the way he is driving the deficit to record levels!!!