A historical consultant working at the Canadian Transportation Museum and Heritage Village in Essex says unless its hydro bills come down, the future is uncertain.
Megan Meloche compared the museum's hydro bills this past winter with past winters and noticed a problem right away.
"Right now we face, on average, $4,000 a month in our down time, so our winter months," she admits. "I did a comparison, so it was a December bill at that time in 2012. It was about $2,000."
So, unless the provincial government reins in the cost of hydro, she says the museum will have to get creative.
"We're tossing some ideas around and looking at the sponsorships and fundraising may look like in the future, but we don't have anything solidified yet," says Meloche.
On Thursday, Essex MPP Taras Natyshak raised the museum's troubles during question period demanding to know why the Wynne government has not taken action to help organizations like the Canadian Transportation Museum and Heritage Village.
"By privatizing Hydro One and hiking the cost of hydro bills, the Wynne government has squeezed an important piece of heritage in my community," he said. "How did [Premier Kathleen] Wynne let it come to this?"
Natyshak says the museum cannot hire staff or grow its Children's Education program. He says capital projects have been put on hold.
In a release from Natyshak's office, Meloche is quoted as saying, "our bookkeeper is forced to choose who can be paid at which time because we simply do not have the revenue to keep us afloat."
However, to BlackburnNews.com, Meloche insists the museum is not in imminent danger of closing. She hopes high attendance this summer will offset hydro costs.
"The village is the history of Essex County. All of those buildings were moved here," says Meloche. "The cars here range from 1893 to 1992. That's a long history of transportation that we're able to showcase here."
