Local MP wants long-term protection for Sambro Lighthouse
Posted May 26, 2015 08:41:04 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A local MP wants the Sambro Lighthouse brought back to its former glory.
A private members bill put forward by Megan Leslie aimed at saving the lighthouse has gone through its first round of debate in the House of Commons.
The structure, located at the near the entrance of Halifax harbour, is the oldest operating lighthouse in North America.
Leslie said the first act ever passed in Nova Scotia Legislature in 1758, was to build the Sambo Lighthouse.
She said the building also culturally significant, being called ‘Canada’s Statue of Liberty’ by immigrants coming to Pier 21.
“After weeks on this ship, looking and wondering what this new place will be like, the first thing they saw was this little light on the horizon, and that was the Sambo Island Lighthouse,” she said.
Leslie said the structure has also been an important beacon for those in the military going overseas.
“That light was the last thing they saw of Canada, and they hoped that one day they’d get to see it on their return,” she said. “For those who paid the ultimate price and lost their lives at war, that was the last memory they had of Canada.”
She said anyone who’s been to Crystal Crescent Beach has seen the lighthouse on an rocky outcrop off in the distance, and would know it’s not easy to access.
Leslie said last time they painted the building, they had to helicopter in scaffolding to the island.
Earlier this month, the federal government $1.5 million in funding over the next two years for renovations, but Leslie called that a short-term plan.
She said her private members bill would provide long-term protection for the historic lighthouse.
Leslie said MP for Sydney-Victoria Mark Eyking, speaking on behalf of the Liberals, indicated his party would support the bill.
She said Cumberland-Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley MP Scott Armstrong represented the Conservatives, and spoke very highly of the bill, but didn’t say how the party would vote.
Leslie hopes the second debate will be early June, with a vote followed closely behind.
