Our Historical Collections Committee was approached by the Bach Elgar Choir for assistance with the loan of some historical uniform items for use in The Trial of Gilbert and Sullivan. We were happy to help but were surprised and gratified to receive an invitation to view the production. We watched the costumes with critical eyes and they passed inspection. Despite knowing all the words to HMS PINAFORE, we refrained from singing along. It was great fun and left us wanting more at the end. Many thanks to Alex Cann and Tabitha DeBruin.
Ian Raven stands in front of HMCS Ojibwa in Port Burwell in this file photo. (Free Press files)
Small community set to finally pay off bad $6M bet on old submarine
London Free Press – 2 March 2025 by Heather Rivers
A small community just east of London is in a position to pay off a Cold War-era submarine, a bad debt that’s hung over it for a decade, its top administrative official says. The Municipality of Bayham, which sits on the shore of Lake Erie in Elgin County and has 7,000 residents, was saddled with more than $6 million in debt after backing a loan to bring a Cold War submarine to the lakeside village of Port Burwell as a hoped-for tourist draw.
“The last 10 years have been very difficult financially having to keep things in line while we service the debt on the Ojibwa,” chief administrator Thomas Thayer said. “Should council direct, we will be happy to get out from under it and move forward.”
The municipal government, in 2012, agreed to guarantee the debt from the Elgin Military Museum related to the HMCS Ojibwa project, an amount that included bringing the Oberon-class submarine to Port Burwell and converting it into a museum.
When the loan went into default in 2015, Bayham was on the hook for more than $6 million. Bayham has been paying down the debt ever since at a cost of about $330,600 a year. The municipality’s total annual budget is about $11 million. Bayham has sold off several surplus municipal properties – including two small-town community centres, a former municipal office and a public works yard – to reduce its spending and support a fund to repay the HMCS Ojibwa loan.
But now, with a 2024 surplus of about $1 million, Thayer said they’re in a position to pay off the entire debt. Councillors will decide March 7 if they will follow the staff recommendation to do so, he said. “I don’t know if they will go for it, but staff is hopeful that they will,” Thayer said. “Based on the surplus we ran last year, council is in a position to retire the debt and it’s a good financial position to be in.” But Thayer won’t say how paying off the debt will affect Port Burwell’s derelict lighthouse.
