Mr. MacNICOL:
The information we were given previously was that a lock would be installed there, and that perhaps another dam would be erected across the river south of Chambly basin.
Mr. CARDIN:
No.
Mr. MacNICOL:
Are you going to run
a twelve foot canal on the west side of the river from this new dam down to Chambly basin?
Mr. CARDIN:
No. The twelve foot depth will be from the dam to the boundary. From the dam through the old canal the depth will remain the same as at present, about six and a half feet.
Mr. MacNICOL:
It is between four and
a half and five feet.
Mr. CARDIN:
Yes, at certain seasons.
Mr. MacNICOL:
That presents an entirely different picture. In according the scheme some support, as I did a moment ago, I had in mind the impression I received from the minister a year or two ago, namely that in the end there would be a twelve foot draft in the canal from Sorel right up to lake Champlain.
Mr. CARDIN:
That will be so should the government or parliament decide to rebuild the Chambly canal; but if the Chambly canal
is not rebuilt, the draft in that canal will be what it is now, four and a half or five or six feet. The twelve foot depth will be maintained from this dam, about six miles north of St, Johns, right up to the boundary.
Mr. MacNICOL:
That will be of little
value unless the whole project is completed. In other words, from the Erie canal at Albany to the dam at Fryer's island, when that dam is completed, there will be a twelve foot draft?
Mr. CARDIN:
Yes.
Mr. MacNICOL:
And from Fryer's island on to Chambly basin the draft is about four and a half or five feet. It is supposed to be six feet, but it is not.
Mr. CARDIN:
A little more than five
feet.
Mr. MacNICOL:
From Chambly basin to Sorel it is twelve feet. That route can still be used only by boats drawing up to about four and a half feet.
Mr. CARDIN:
Yes.
Mr. MacNICOL:
As I said before, I do
not think it will be of much account for navigation, because in any event it will be little used. Surely, however, it would have been only common sense to instal in the dam just erected a lock with a twelve foot draft. That is what I would have done if I had been in charge. Now, if you desire to put one in, you will have to break through the dam, or at least the centre part of it. However, money may be cheaper when the remainder of the work is completed. Has the minister any idea as to when the rest of the work, from Fryer's island to Chambly basin, will be completed and the twelve foot draft provided?
Mr. CARDIN:
That is a matter of policy on which I am not in a position to make a statement. We are not contemplating that work at the present time. It will be for parliament to decide at another session if we are to rebuild that section of the Chambly canal. We thought we were justified in doing the work we have done and are doing in providing a twelve foot draft from the dam to the boundary, and at the same time providing a means of reclaiming the low land between St. Johns and the boundary. The construction of a lock in the dam we are erecting would be a very costly proposition, probably almost as costly as rebuilding the Chambly canal itself. There are several locks in the Chambly canal, so that it would mean quite an expenditure.
4852 COMMONS
Supply-Public Works-Harbours and Rivers
Mr. MacNICOL:
I believe only one more dam would be required, south of Chambly.
Mr. CARDIN:
No; the Chambly canal could be rebuilt to provide a depth of twelve feet, without the necessity of building any other dam. It would mean the reconstruction of the canal.
Mr. MacNICOL:
If the government is not going to build another dam at Chambly, does it propose to have the canal on the west side of the river?
Mr. CARDIN:
Yes.