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OTTAWA, Ont. —

Cumberland-Colchester MP Lenore Zann has received assurances from Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan the Col. James Layton Ralston Armoury in Amherst won’t be demolished before the community has an opportunity to acquire it.

Zann met recently with the minister in Ottawa and raised the future of the armoury building. The Department of National Defence has declared surplus and wishes to divest itself of the building.

“The minister has put a stop order for any building that DND owns, like armouries, across the country to say they can’t be demolished without checking first with the community to see if the community wants it,” Zann said. “We don’t have to worry about it being demolished before the community there has an opportunity. That’s good news.”

The Amherst Armouries Plus Society has expressed an interest in taking over management of the building after DND divests it, but only if the numbers work. The society, Mayor David Kogon, former MP Bill Casey and Cumberland North MLA Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin met in December with Major Jean Francois Robert, the G4 with the 38th Canadian Brigade.

The society was formed last fall to investigate preserving and repurposing the building that was built during the First World War and was home to the North Nova Scotia Highlanders during the Second World War.

The armoury building no longer hosts a reserve regiment, but is home to three cadet corps as well as the North Nova Scotia Highlanders Regimental Museum.

The society needs access to the studies the federal government has done on cost estimates to repair the stonework at the front of the building as well as what it costs to heat and power the building. Without that information, it can’t move forward.

Zann, who met with the society soon after being elected in October to replace Casey, sees a future for the building in the community and has received a commitment from the minister that DND will turn ownership over to the community for a dollar if it expresses interest.

Also, she received a commitment from the minister to have all the department’s information on the building turned over to the society.

“The minister was very interested to hear the community or a non-profit society is interested in taking over the building for a dollar and he asked how soon they would want to do that,” Zann said. “I told the minister the society is awaiting the information from the study DND has done on the building. He said he was unaware of the study, but would look into and get back to me as soon as possible with the information.”

The MP said she has also spoken to ACOA as a potential funding partner for any study the society wishes to complete and got a commitment that it would be supportive.