Yes. Thank you.
Good afternoon, and thank you for allowing me the privilege to speak to you today about the impact that derelict vessels have had, and continue to have, on our community. While I am speaking for the Town of Bridgewater, our situation, sadly, is one that is repeated many times over across our great country. For you to fully understand where we're at today, you do need to know how we got to where we are.
In October 1998, Transport Canada divested itself of the port of Bridgewater and transferred ownership of the wharf to the Artificial Reef Society. I want to make sure that I am clear on the following point. The Town of Bridgewater does not own this wharf, and it is now owned by the individual who was the head of the Artificial Reef Society. I say this to drive home the point that had that not happened, I would not be speaking to you on this topic today and you would have saved a few dollars by not having to bring me here.
During the first two years of port ownership, the Artificial Reef Society brought the HMCS Fraser, a Canadian Navy frigate, up the LaHave River with the intention of sinking her for an artificial reef. When that didn't go anywhere, the plan was to turn the Fraser into a floating hotel and museum, and in 1999 it was designated a national historic site.
In 2009, after it had rotted at the wharf for a decade, the navy repossessed the Fraser and took her to be scrapped. While this should have been a joyous occasion for the people in my community, sadly it was not. That's because sitting behind the Fraser since the year 2000 was the Cormorant. Unfortunately what should be another celebrated piece of Canadian history, its being an integral part of the expedition to recover the ship's bell from the Edmund Fitzgerald, the Cormorant has sat abandoned and rotting in our town.
In 2015 the Cormorant began to list so severely and sink that the Coast Guard had to be called in to slowly right the ship at a cost to Canadian taxpayers of over $1 million. This was a year after the Cape Rouge, one of the two trawlers behind the Cormorant, also sank, both spilling various lubricants and fuels into this tidal watercourse.
The Cormorant still sits at the port of Bridgewater today, rusting away in the LaHave River. These derelicts have had a very large, very real, and very negative impact on my town. They depress property values along the river resulting in reduced tax revenue for my town, which has had a direct impact on the services that I'm able to offer my citizens. As the Cormorant sits at the wharf, there is a risk every day that this vessel will tip over again and, along with the other derelicts, leak and leach the various contaminants still inside them into the river—a river that the federal and provincial governments, along with our neighbouring municipality, have committed $15 million to clean up.
The Town of Bridgewater has worked very hard to get to where we are today as the fastest growing town of our size in the province of Nova Scotia. With the help of the federal government, we've undertaken a massive downtown revitalization plan, which beyond the 100-year-old underground infrastructure that was replaced, saw the addition of two parks on our waterfront over the last number of years. Across from the port of Bridgewater is a very large recreational green space that holds many family events throughout the year, yet always looming in the background is the Cormorant.
Despite having to endure over two decades of these derelict vessels at this wharf—and I'm sure some cursing by those who had wished the port of Bridgewater was never put into private hands—I have hope in being here today that one day this ship will be gone and legislation will be put in place to ensure that this will hopefully never happen again.
I've seen the action taken by this government in the Town of Shelburne to remove the Farley Mowat, and the support from all parties in the House to rid our wharves and waterways of these dangerous eyesores. This is not a Liberal, Conservative, NDP, or Green Party issue. This is a Canadian issue, and I'm proud to be able to tell my residents is being taken very seriously by all members of Parliament.
Irrespective of the level of government we represent, we were elected to improve our community, economy, environment, health, and the lives of the people we represent. These ships, whether they are in Bridgewater or elsewhere in Canada, impact all these things in a very negative way.
For decades our town has looked at options to deal with these vessels, but I cannot do this alone. As communities across Canada we cannot do this alone. However, being here today I can say with confidence that we are no longer alone in this. I can look around this room and I know that we are being heard and that the days of idle words are behind us and legislation is coming to protect our water, which is in reality our most valuable and vital resource. This is not just encouraging, but a demonstration of co-operation that we need when too often all we read or hear about is division and negativity when it comes to government, regardless of which level it is.
I'd like to thank my MP for being a champion of this topic, and I'd like to thank each of you for your willingness to work together to clean our waterways from coast to coast to coast. I look forward to seeing the result of your efforts.
Thank you.