Bayham council needs to make some difficult decisions regarding the Ojibwa

Before I get into my latest post I need to clarify a couple of things. People reading this blog probably think I am against Project Ojibwa, as I have stated before I am not against the project, I am critical because of the way it has been handled and the potential money being spent on something that may or may not be successful. I understand it takes money and risk in any business venture, however there at least needs to be a business plan which has not been brought forward, as well there needs to be a comparison with other similar projects. This brings me to my next point; everyone is assuming Port Burwell will get 100,000 visitors because of the H.M.C.S. Onondaga's success. Of course we don't really know how many visitors the Onondaga gets each year because they have not published the actual numbers; everyone just assumes it is successful.
I am not going to blame this on the Elgin Military Museum. At the start of this process they just wanted an armored personal carrier and the Navy offered them a sub. I can understand their dream of growing the museum and the project into a world class exhibit. I think the museum does a great job in promoting local military history. They have an important role to play by preserving our history and honouring those that have served. Saying this I think the project is a bit beyond their mandate and well beyond their means. The dream of having the H.M.C.S. Ojibwa as a museum has become a delusion of grandeur. The unfortunate reality is that they have simply run out of time and this is not the museum's fault. They were basically thrust into this process less than a year ago and have gotten a great deal accomplished. However without previous planning and fundraising, putting together a project of this magnitude is virtually impossible.
I think we have come to a point where Bayham Council and the museum need to sit down and discuss the realities of this project. I know that the process is still ongoing, however I remain unconvinced that the project is even possible considering the time constraints and money required to make this happen.
I read an interesting article from the St.Catharines Standard regarding an idea for getting a submarine museum. Council passed on the idea due to other circumstances; however it did lay out some of the difficulties for making such a project happen. Here is the article from the standard;

Submarine tourist attraction torpedoed by council
By MARLENE BERGSMA STANDARD STAFF
Posted 22 days ago


There will be no submarine tourist attraction in St. Catharines.

St. Andrew's Coun. Joe Kushner watched his idea for a marine monument sink on Monday night, as city staff said Kushner's idea would cost millions of dollars to implement with no guarantee of success.

"Although I am disappointed in not having a yellow submarine in the city, it would not make sense to make that kind of expenditure," Kushner said at Monday night's council meeting, as he officially torpedoed the idea.

A report from economic development director David Oakes said that based on a similar effort currently underway to locate a decommissioned navy submarine at the Elgin Military Museum near Port Burwell, it would cost about $2 milllion to move one here and another $2 million to prepare the vessel as a tourist attraction.

Those estimates do not include acquiring land to display the 90-metre, 13,000-tonne vessel, Oakes wrote.

The submarine would have to be dry-stored above the waterline, and, assuming it's parked at the St. Catharines Museum at Lock 3, it "would place a significant burden on the existing resources at the museum," he wrote.

A $2-million federal grant that is being used to move the HMCS Ojibwa to Port Burwell is not available to St. Catharines because the Community Adjustment Fund grant program has been cancelled, Oakes said.

There is no one who has come forward saying they want to sponsor or be involved in such an endeavour, and there is no information about how successful such a tourist attraction could be.

Kushner had asked for a staff report on his idea in September, citing the success of a similar submarine attraction in Rimouski, Que.

"Officially opened in June 2009, the HMCS Onandaga in Rimouski has yet to publish attendance figures," Oakes wrote. "Staff would not recommend pursuing this matter further."