Pony up for Sable Island    

Editorial, Halifax Chronicle Herald, October 31, 2004

SABLE ISLAND needs a budget and a champion.

For 203 years, it has made sense to have a station and a continuous human presence on Canada's most remote island. But that presence, which still makes sense, could end for a ridiculous reason.

None of the federal departments which have stakes in the Sable station has responsibility to ensure it has the $1 million a year required to operate. No minister is stepping up to assume this obligation. So the station faces a $500,000 shortfall because its lead funders, Fisheries and Environment, want out and other federal stakeholders are free riders.

The answer is clear. Paul Martin should name a minister to take the lead, to set up a multi-interest management board with core funding, and to tap departments with Sable interests to pay a share.

The station gets $100,000 from Nova Scotia and recovers $400,000 in fees for services it provides to researchers and other users of the island. It is just not credible for Ottawa, with a $9-billion surplus and a huge financial stake in gasfields we own because of Sable, not to find the rest.

The usefulness of the station is not an issue. Its uses are continually growing. What began as a life-saving station now operates lights and beacons, collects meteorological data, maintains helipads and refuelling capacity for Search and Rescue and the oil industry. With stores of food, water, clothing and clean-up gear, it provides a safe haven and operating base in marine disasters.

Station staff protect the island's bird sanctuary, dunes and unique species - which include plants, a beetle and a pond sponge as well as the famous horses - from intruders. It also enables a vast range of research - on horses, seal populations, magnetic fields, oiled seabirds, atmospheric pollution, climate change, marine mammal strandings.

Like the island's remarkable ecosystem, its colony of station staff and visiting researchers are interdependent. Without a staffed station, equipment could not be left on the island and research projects would not be cost-effective. Researchers, in turn, pay for security, transport and power-generation provided by the station, reducing its cost to taxpayers.

It would be absurd for Ottawa to abandon its stewardship and sovereignty roles on Sable, and to undermine so much valuable research, to save $500,000.

Fisheries Minister Geoff Regan is trying to put together joint funding with the Environment, Transport and Heritage departments. But with an expenditure review underway, and Fisheries trying to cut its own share, merely passing the hat is not going to do it.

Mr. Martin should get serious about Sable. Name a lead minister. Agree to core funding. Provide the authority to get the backsliders to pay.