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PEMBROKE—Rough political waters which rocked a local campaign to have the Ottawa River declared a national heritage waterway seem to have been successfully navigated.
Larry Graham, chairman of the Ottawa River Heritage Designation Committee, expects an official heritage nomination will be signed sometime soon by Environment Minister John Baird for delivery to the Canadian Heritage Rivers System Board in time for a meeting set for the Yukon June 9.
That’s when the board will move the process forward, hopefully in time for a positive public announcement during its meeting in Ottawa next spring.
Nomination approval should have just been a final formality.
However, it took a year of wrangling to resolve, Graham said, adding that plans are tentatively being made for a river designation celebration here next year.
Graham doesn’t blame Baird. He has accused Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke Conservative MP Cheryl Gallant of sitting on the heritage application because it was largely initiated by former Liberal MP, the late Len Hopkins.
A canoeing instructor who lives along the Ottawa, Graham said he was unsuccessful several times in recent months in trying to arrange a meeting with Gallant’s office to discuss the situation.
ADDRESS CONCERNS
“I can’t believe that our local MP believes it’s more important to be anti-Liberal than Canadian,” Graham has railed publicly.
Speaking to the Sun, Gallant denied the partisanship charge, insisting that she only wanted to make sure concerns of her constituents regarding the heritage designation were fully considered.
Last Thursday, she indicated in writing conditional support for designating the river.
However, she wants “outstanding ambiguities” addressed prior to final designation, notably how the river’s new status will affect property owners and new development along its banks.
She pointed out designation could block potential hydro projects on the Ottawa and its tributaries, a suggestion denied by Graham, who said heritage recognition carries no legislating powers.
The day before her statement, Renfrew County council had decided to portage around the Gallant obstacle and appeal directly to her boss, Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
In a motion passed unanimously, council requested that Harper take the necessary action to ensure that all documents relating to the Ottawa River’s nomination “be duly signed to be submitted to Parks Canada officials within the required time frame.”
County councillor Bob Sweet, mayor of Petawawa, said the issue of heritage designation has to be finally addressed before the opportunity fades away.
YEARS OF HARD WORK
“Let the chips fall where they may,” said Town of Renfrew Reeve Audrey Green, also a county councillor, when the issue was raised that the county could be seen as strong-arming the government by intervening in the Ottawa River file.
In her open letter to the PM requesting his “immediate assistance”, county warden Janice Visneskie insisted the years of hard work by designation project volunteers who solicited stakeholder support—including First Nations—from Lake Temiscaming down to Hawkesbury “should not go unrewarded.”
As it does with other federal matters, Renfrew County chief administrator Norm Lemke said council will rely on Gallant to keep it apprised of the progress of the letter through the Prime Minister’s Office.
With most residents surprised to learn the historic waterway hadn’t already been recognized, the Ottawa River Heritage Designation Project was launched at the Petawawa Yacht Club in June 2003, with Hopkins as committee chairman.
Graham said he regrets that Hopkins died last year before the river could be designated. He said the committee plans to recognize his contribution.
Hopkins has already been honoured by the heritage rivers system board for his efforts in pursuing recognition for the Ottawa, including his extensive involvement in preparation of a 350-page background document and his participation in some of 33 early consultation meetings.
Ottawa Sun