Mother Canada group gets 'applause, support' at meeting with premier

One of the people behind a project to build an eight-storey statue in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park is pleased with what he said was the support shown for it by the caucus of Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil.

Retired Maj.-Gen. Lewis MacKenzie and three others associated with the Mother Canada statue met behind closed doors for about an hour with Liberal members of the legislature.

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"We're down here to bring them up to date on where we are in the project," he said.

"[We're] asking for no financial support or anything like that. We were looking for moral support and absolutely delighted with the reaction of the caucus applause, support from individual members in the double digits and no criticism."

But before meeting with the group, McNeil told reporters his government wasn't taking sides on this issue.

McNeilwants to hear from 'all sides'

"It's a federal project," he said. "They'll decide what they're going to do, but we do believe we have an obligation to hear from people on all sides of every issue."

McNeil invited opponents to the project to come speak to his caucus too.

But MacKenzie called opposition to the project "really irritating."

He said the group behind the project is currently waiting for the results of a detailed assessment of their plans, which he characterized as "red tape." MacKenzie said the hope was that process could be completed by the end of November.

Asked if the project would be completed, MacKenzie was unequivocal.

"I wouldn't be here if I wasn't 100 per cent confident," he said. "I know there will be battles along the way and there'll be arguments to deal with and victories and failures et cetera, but this will be built."

The Never Forgotten National Memorial Foundation wants to build a $25-million memorial to Canada's war dead on a stretch of the trail between Ingonish and Neils Harbour. The memorial centrepiece is a 24-metre statue of a woman, her arms outstretched towards Europe.

Detractors have called it everything from "vulgar and ostentatious" to "inappropriate" and counter to the "ecological integrity" of the park.

Supporters maintain it's a fitting memorial that would boost tourism in northern Cape Breton.

In addition to the 24-metre statue, the memorial plan includes a parking lot and an interpretive centre.