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$4 sub sale could prove costly
Ottawa will pay over $1 million for move to Quebec
By CHRIS LAMBIE Staff Reporter | 4:41 AM
The much publicized $4 sale of a surplus submarine to a Quebec museum could wind up costing the federal government more than $1 million.
The Musee de la Mer de Pointe-au-Pere, near Rimouski, bought HMCS Onondaga nearly two years ago for less than the price of a toy sub. But the Oberon-class boat still hasn’t left Halifax Harbour and museum officials don’t expect to take delivery of the sub any time soon.
"We hope to have everything settled before the end of the year so we will know if it will be possible for us to tow the submarine next spring," said Annemarie Bourassa, the museum’s assistant director.
If the plan goes ahead, the museum hopes to open the sub to the public by 2009.
Towing Onondaga to Quebec and setting it up as a museum piece is expected to cost about $3 million.
Ottawa has promised to ante up more than $1 million, Ms. Bourassa said.
"They don’t want us to talk about it because everything is not sure . . . or confirmed," she said.
The museum is still waiting to hear if the Quebec government will kick in $1 million, Ms. Bourassa said.
Four mothballed subs are still tied up in Dartmouth. There are "no offers on the table" for the other three, said Tina Crouse, a spokeswoman for the Defence Department.
In 2004, a British museum expressed interest in buying one of the boats. And Halifax Regional Municipality also briefly pondered the idea. But neither of the potential sales came to fruition. That same year, former Liberal cabinet minister Sheila Copps unsuccessfully lobbied Ottawa to get one of the surplus subs for Hamilton’s waterfront naval museum.
A plan to tow one of the 90-metre subs to Ottawa for display at the Canadian War Museum was also scuttled when museum officials got a look at what it would cost to transport the vessel.
The first of Canada’s four Oberon-class subs was commissioned in 1965 by the Canadian navy.
Canada took the last of its Oberons out of service in July 2000. The military bought four used Upholder-class subs — dubbed Victoria-class by the Canadian navy — as replacements.
Ottawa will pay over $1 million for move to Quebec
By CHRIS LAMBIE Staff Reporter | 4:41 AM
The much publicized $4 sale of a surplus submarine to a Quebec museum could wind up costing the federal government more than $1 million.
The Musee de la Mer de Pointe-au-Pere, near Rimouski, bought HMCS Onondaga nearly two years ago for less than the price of a toy sub. But the Oberon-class boat still hasn’t left Halifax Harbour and museum officials don’t expect to take delivery of the sub any time soon.
"We hope to have everything settled before the end of the year so we will know if it will be possible for us to tow the submarine next spring," said Annemarie Bourassa, the museum’s assistant director.
If the plan goes ahead, the museum hopes to open the sub to the public by 2009.
Towing Onondaga to Quebec and setting it up as a museum piece is expected to cost about $3 million.
Ottawa has promised to ante up more than $1 million, Ms. Bourassa said.
"They don’t want us to talk about it because everything is not sure . . . or confirmed," she said.
The museum is still waiting to hear if the Quebec government will kick in $1 million, Ms. Bourassa said.
Four mothballed subs are still tied up in Dartmouth. There are "no offers on the table" for the other three, said Tina Crouse, a spokeswoman for the Defence Department.
In 2004, a British museum expressed interest in buying one of the boats. And Halifax Regional Municipality also briefly pondered the idea. But neither of the potential sales came to fruition. That same year, former Liberal cabinet minister Sheila Copps unsuccessfully lobbied Ottawa to get one of the surplus subs for Hamilton’s waterfront naval museum.
A plan to tow one of the 90-metre subs to Ottawa for display at the Canadian War Museum was also scuttled when museum officials got a look at what it would cost to transport the vessel.
The first of Canada’s four Oberon-class subs was commissioned in 1965 by the Canadian navy.
Canada took the last of its Oberons out of service in July 2000. The military bought four used Upholder-class subs — dubbed Victoria-class by the Canadian navy — as replacements.