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Cheryl Gallant will conditionally support designating the Ottawa River a national historic site.
In a written statement released Thursday, the MP for Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke said she wants to see outstanding issues addressed before designation starts in 2009.
Based on that, she has told federal environment minister John Baird that he should sign the nomination which must reach the Canadian Heritage Rivers Board of Governors before its annual general meeting scheduled for next month.
“I have recently indicated my support to the minister of the environment to nominate the Ottawa River as a Canadian Heritage River on the condition that outstanding ambiguities be addressed during the year following the nomination, but prior to the actual designation,” she stated. “Nomination is the next step prior to a river being designated a heritage river. I wish to stress to my constituents that now is the time to come forward. Once the river obtains the title it will be too late.”
This is MP Gallant’s first public comments since the Ottawa River Heritage Designation Committee raised the alarm earlier this year that the project was in jeopardy because it had not yet received federal approval, the last step before it can be reviewed by the Canadian Heritage Rivers Board for a final decision.
This, despite assurances from Mr. Baird, during a meeting with a committee delegation last August, that he would sign the nomination within 60 days.
Concerned that time was running out, Renfrew County Warden Janice Visneskie and Petawawa Mayor Bob Sweet last week requested a meeting with MP Gallant, along with committee members, to ascertain the status of the nomination.
They were told by MP Gallant’s office that no such meeting could be arranged.
On Wednesday, county council unanimously voted to support designation calling on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to approve the nomination.
MP Gallant remarked a number of concerns have been expressed to her, notably how designation will affect property owners and future development along the 1,271 kilometre stretch, the second longest river in Eastern Canada.
“The biggest concern I have is that most individuals, including property owners along the Ottawa River, have no idea what the designation will mean or how it will affect their rights to use and enjoy their private property,” she said.
MP Gallant pointed out that designation could block potential hydro projects on the Ottawa and its tributaries, including the Petawawa River, where Petawawa is proposing to build two power generating plants.
This is primarily why the Province of Quebec is not adding its support to the initiative, she said.
“Should we on the Ontario side of the river have similar concerns? As it now stands today, if a resort was prevented from building in Renfrew County, there will be no such restriction to build on the Quebec side of the river if the designation goes through,” she warned.
According to the statement, Mr. Baird has contacted Quebec Environment Minister Line Beauchamp to solicit the Quebec provincial government’s support for potential designation.
Pontiac MP Lawrence Cannon has made a similar request of Benoit Pelletier, Quebec’s minister for the Outaouais.
“It is interesting to note that critics of the designation have stated that “a management strategy (of the Ottawa River) that does not include Quebec would make the designation meaningless,” she said. “There is a real opportunity to demonstrate to the people of Quebec, eco-operative federalism. I see the time between nomination and designation as a chance to develop grassroots federalism among the Quebec residents of the Ottawa Valley.”
schase@thedailyobserver.ca
Article ID# 1010542