Fisheries committee  Thank you. I'd like to thank the standing committee for the opportunity to participate in the discussion of Bill S-220. During the last 30 years, Canada has lost over 20% of its historic buildings, and recent estimates suggest that another 14% are at risk of being lost. These a

Fisheries committee  Parks Canada administers two heritage designation programs that affect lighthouses. On behalf of the Treasury Board, it administers the Federal Heritage Buildings Review Office and the national historic sites program. Under the Treasury Board program, departments are responsible

Fisheries committee  That's correct.

Fisheries committee  There has never been a program that automatically provided funds on designation. Canada's national historic sites program has always been a program where some sites are owned by the federal government and some sites are owned by other bodies--provincial governments, municipal gov

Fisheries committee  It's called the national historic sites cost-sharing program.

Fisheries committee  That's correct.

Fisheries committee  The bill doesn't discuss interpretation or presentation, so it doesn't create any obligations on current or future owners with respect to that. So to be honest, your question isn't something we have contemplated.

Fisheries committee  Can I speak to your first question about why it would make sense not to designate the wharves? If you treat the wharf as a heritage structure, then under the bill you're placing constraints on the kinds of changes you could make to that. You're creating obligations to treat it

Fisheries committee  We do run campgrounds, and we have a number of national historic sites that are leased to private operators who run them as back-country hostels and that kind of thing. So it is a model. But I would caution that Parks Canada's interest as a property holder has, until now, at leas

Fisheries committee  That's what the bill currently says, yes.

Fisheries committee  Some of the lighthouses are on Parks Canada land, but they belong to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. I believe that is the case for the Mingan archipelago. Even though the lighthouses are in the park, they belong to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

Fisheries committee  I am unable to answer your question. For as long as these lighthouses are the property of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, it is responsible for their upkeep. We do not intend to acquire more lighthouses, even though DFO would like to give them to us. I could perhaps elabo

Fisheries committee  We would only be interested if...

Fisheries committee  Funding helps, but we should also strive to acquire lighthouses that are in keeping with our objectives, for example, the ecological integrity of a park or the commemorative integrity of a site.

Fisheries committee  Not in any detail, no.