Councils press for Marine Centre of Excellence

By Kathy Johnson

THE COAST GUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

Shelburne County’s municipal leaders are taking another step forward in the revival of an economic development project that’s a natural fit with the area’s marine industry.

Last week Team Shelburne County decided they want to meet with federal, provincial and local economic development representatives to discuss and develop a business case and plan for a marine centre of excellence in Shelburne County.

A marine centre of excellence is a project that has been proposed in various forms over the past 20 years but has never been brought to fruition, despite broad-based community support for the proposal.

Team Shelburne County, which is comprised of the mayors and wardens of the county, began taking another look at the long sought after project earlier this year.

Last month they met with South Shore St. Margaret’s MP Gerald Keddy to discuss the project. “Basically he (Keddy) said to us that if this is something we’re interested in pursuing then he’s interested in seeing what he can do for us,” said Louise Halliday, warden for the Municipality of Barrington and chair of team Shelburne County.

At last week’s Team Shelburne County meeting, there was unanimous support to pursue the proposal by way of arranging a meeting with representatives from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), the provincial Department of Economic Development and the South West Shore Development Authority (SWSDA) to discuss and develop a business case and plan for a marine centre of excellence. “This is something that can be looked at again,” said Halliday. “All the preliminary work has already been done.”

During discussions at the Team Shelburne County meeting, it was noted that the marine centre of excellence is a concept that doesn’t necessarily have to fit into one building, but could developed in such a way that various components of the centre could be located in communities throughout the county.