Bayham gets stuck with the bill after a bad date with the Elgin Military Museum

Well it is official, Bayham will take over the $6 million letter of credit in connection with Project Ojibwa. For the EMM it is business as usual as they continue to operate this monstrosity of a project. There are so many things wrong with all of this in my opinion, why is it that Bayham gets stuck with paying the bill while the EMM continues on like nothing has happened. I hope that Bayham council will seek all necessary legal options available to them. They need to get an audit done first of all, I understand that the EMM has not cooperated with a previous attempt, however I think they should seek a court order to make this happen. Bayham residents need to know where this $6 million was spent since they are responsible for this disaster. The EMM should hand over all proceeds after costs from the sub tours to Bayham so they can at least contribute and bear some of the burden. There needs to be some accountability in all of this and there needs to be answers from all those involved with this project. I just don't buy all of the excuses being given for the projects failure like the weather and low attendance etc. Poor management, lack of finances, lack of analysis and lack of judgement are the reason why this failed so miserably. Unfortunately this mistake will cost Bayham taxpayers a great deal of money for a generation. At the very least the EMM ought to give a lifetime free membership to Bayham residents for the sub since they are paying for it.

The Elgin Military Museum fires a torpedo at the Bayham taxpayer

I regret having to write this latest post about Project Ojibwa. If you have read my blog I have been against this project from the beginning because it seemed to good to be true and lacked any credible business plan. I have not posted anything over the last couple of years because I did not want to be critical about the sub in Bayham due too it being an operational tourist attraction. I felt it would be sour grapes on my part because I did not think this project by the Elgin Military Museum (EMM) would come to fruition. That being said I was greatly disappointed to hear that the EMM defaulted on their loan and it is now going to become a burden on the taxpayers of Bayham. The financial condition of this project are even worse than I thought with the EMM's financial position at a negative $7.6 million. This situation should have never happened, there were plenty of red flags that came up during this process. To recap the EMM had approached Port Stanley as it's first choice for the sub, the council of the day politely passed on the idea, then Bayham was approached and took the bait, hook line and sinker. The business plan was bad, the EMM had very little in terms of assets, they relied on financing the whole project and they needed a guarantor for the project. Throughout this process it seems to me the EMM was extremely opaque and could not give a straight answer for this project. The estimate for visitors for this attraction were based on the HMCS Onondaga in Rimouski Quebec which had 100k tourists come out the first year. The whole project was based on an assumption and the EMM grossly overestimated the revenues such a venture would take in. Unfortunately the Bayham council of the day bought into the museums pipe dream and put the tax payers at risk for this venture. At this time I am going to call out Mayor Paul Enns for casting the deciding vote to allow this project to go though. That vote put Bayham on the hook for $6 million, it is going to take 25 years for the taxpayers of Bayham to pay this off. I think Mayor Enns should resign immediately. I wonder if the election results would have been different if the public were aware of this debacle before the election. It was poor judgement to allow this to go through, Bayham could have avoided this if council decided not to be a guarantor for the EMM. I feel bad for the residents of Bayham and the municipal staff because you now have to deal with this mess.

Project Ojibwa over budget by $2 million

Well it has been a while since my last update on this blog. I thought I would watch to see how things unfolded. Let me be the first one to acknowledge that I never thought this sub would make it to Port Burwell. Well with a great deal of help from the municipality it has become a reality.
The one thing I find annoying with this whole process is that the tax payers were never supposed to be involved, the museum always maintained they had this project covered financially. Bayham gave the land to the museum and also acted as guarantor for $6 million. Now we are finding out the project is around $8 million and is $2 million over budget. The Municipality of Bayham has done more for this project than the Elgin Military Museum and it is quickly becoming a growing concern for the tax payers.
Bayham council needs to get real answers from the museum in terms of the business plan, how fund raising is going, how they are going to pay for this, how much more money is needed, what the next step is in terms of making the project viable as well as many other questions. The tax payers of Bayham deserve answers and if this project is ever going to work the museum needs to step up their game by being open and honest and giving an assessment of their financial position and realistic expectations of future costs and revenue for this project. Don't just throw out numbers an assume you are getting 100k paying people to tour the sub. A project like this needs to have lowered expectations so that when problems do arise you are prepared for it.

Did Project Ojibwa get an extension?

The Elgin Military Museum had been hoping for an extension of the $1.9 million in federal grant money which was set to expire yesterday.  Not sure if they were granted an extension apparently the museum forwarded a letter of approval from the DND in principle to the feds in Ottawa.  If the museum does receive an extension it would provide a lifeline for their project.  Of course without an extension the project would certainly be in jeopardy.  Hopefully over the next few weeks the museum will release information as to the status of the extension, trying to find any information on the community adjustment fund website is near impossible.  I did send an e-mail requesting the status of the extension of course that went unanswered.  Government at its best.

Arrival of Ojibwa unlikely

It is highly unlikely the Ojibwa will be coming to Port Burwell this year if ever.  Dredging is not going to be started this year because it can only be done at certain times due to environmental restrictions for certain fish migrations.  The window for dredging closes at the end of September making it impossible to accommodate the Ojibwa in such a short period of time.  The Navy to my knowledge has not released the sub and the museum faces yet another deadline in terms of their CAF funding which expires the end of October.  The big question is whether the Navy will just send the Ojibwa for scrap this year or give the museum until 2012 to prepare for the arrival of the sub.  I figured this project was done months ago however the museum seems to have a knack for getting getting extensions.  The fact that the museum has to pay for dredging, faces the expiration of their federal funding and needs to raise funds for the on site building and facilities tells me the project is in peril.  In an article in the London Free Press the museum said that a worst case scenario was the Ojibwa would not come until 2012.  I think the worst case scenario is that the Ojibwa does not come at all which seems to be more likely as time goes on.  Should know the fate of the Ojibwa this fall when the navy has to decide if they will just scrap the sub or release it to the museum to keep in Hamilton until next spring.

HMS Olympus on a floating drydock en route to Port Maitland for scrap

Will the Ojibwa be sent to Port Maitland for scrap this fall?

The Olympus and Okanagan a being sent for scrap in Port Maitland this summer, they are being towed on a drydock for their journey from Halifax. The Olympus is currently en route while the Okanagan and the Ojibwa wait. I read on a message board that it was reported on the Halifax news that the Ojibwa will be coming this fall to either Port Burwell or Port Maitland for scrap if the museum plan falls through. I cannot confirm this as a certainty, however I do know it will be on the move somewhere.
Still no word on dredging progress in Port Burwell, not sure if the museum has raised the money for dredging or if oceans and fisheries have given any approval to dredge. Still very much up in the air and of course there is very little information to come out for some reason.