Writing Samples

Cold Lake gets Marina funding
by Kevin Dowler

On a cloudy grey day, to the sound of Cold Lake waves crashing upon its shores, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, Tom Siddon, announced the $1.4 million breakwater construction and $300,000 repair funding to the town’s present wharf.

Thursday morning (July 8), Siddon announced the construction of two breakwaters, floating berths and dredging of the Cold Lake harbour to a group of about 30 people gathered in the stormy weather at the wharf to hear his announcement.

The present Cold Lake wharf is owned and operated by the federal government under Siddon’s ministry. Its funding will repair the present breakwater to a useable and safe state.

“This breakwater should have been built years ago,” Siddon said.

Cold Lake Mayor Warren Johnston said the breakwater is the key the town has been waiting for to develop its tourism industry.

“Cold Lake presently is a regional facility but with the breakwater it can be a provincial, even national tourist attraction,” Johnston said.

“This work is being undertaken as part of the overall development of the downtown waterfront,” MLA Jack Shields said. “It will give Cold Lake a safe and efficient harbour which will benefit not only recreational boaters but the economy of the local community.”

The project will create a permanent and lasting improvement to the area, Siddon said about the well protected marina basin able to accommodate 100 recreational boats which will be expandable to accommodate 175 additional boats.

He estimated the completion of the project, to include floating berths, floats, lighting, electrical outlets and other related services, by the 1990s.

The Small Craft Harbours Revitalization Program (SCHRP), the breakwaters are being constructed through, does come with a hitch, Siddon said.

“The hitch in the program is funding is provided only if the community becomes involved in running the facility.”

A lease for the wharf would be made to a local habour authority registered as a nonprofit organization, he said.

“We are not abandoning the wharf. It is still federally owned and long range plans for the wharf would be undertaken by the ministry,” Siddon said.

The harbour authority could be the town council or chamber, he said. The authority would then be responsible for operating and maintaining the marina under its own authority.

The SCHRP was first announced Monday, June 29, in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, for an inland wharf requested by a group of commercial fishermen.

Siddon said the Lunenburg harbour is one of the oldest in Canada and the home port of Canada’s Bluenose schooner pictured on the back of the Canadian dime.

The program is to upgrade about 100 small craft harbours and includes new construction of about 60 new harbour projects.

He said without the program’s 48 per cent budget boost, the Cold Lake breakwaters could not have been built. The program now has a budget of $70 million.

Over the three year program, about $150 million will be spent in upgrading and construction of the ministry’s harbours.

He said the advantage of the program is the ability of the municipalities to directly repair or upgrade their local dock without permission from the federal ministry, thus speeding up the process of repairs.