September 14, 1978
Page 29418
A VIEW FROM CAMPOBELLO ISLAND
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, Dalton Camp of the Toronto Star visited the Roosevelt Campobello Island International Park this summer. In the newspaper's July 28 issue, he offered one man's view of the special beauty, unique nature and historical significance of this international memorial to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. As chairman of the park commission on a rotating basis, it has been my responsibility for more than a decade to help guide the development of our only international park. It has also been my delight to observe the special feeling which almost every visitor takes away from the Roosevelt cottage and surrounding landscape.
The park is a small and fragile place. A decade ago it was nearly lost. Now a proposal to develop an oil refinery in nearby Eastport, Maine, has cast new doubt on whether the unique character of the park can survive.
Dalton Camp understood the potential harm from an inadequately designed refinery. To share his insight with my colleagues, I ask that his column be printed in the RECORD.
The column follows :
WILL SUN STILL RISE OVER LOVELY CAMPOBELLO?
Without the kind permission of the Canadian government Office of Tourism, whose fiat it is that the sun must always shine in Canada during the tourist high season. I must report to you that over the weekend here (a) it rained, (b) thunder was heard, (c) lightning was noted and (d) there was also a good deal of fog, particularly in the mornings.
None of this, however, detracts a whit from the charms of this small New Brunswick island which rises out of the Bay of Fundy little more than a stone's throw from the coast of Maine. Indeed, the frequent damp of Campobello has created a paradise for botanists, naturalists, and other admirers of flora. What Campobello has that you won't find along the Rideau Canal are bogs, trees that rain fog, a spectacular number and variety of wild flowers and ambiance.
It is, nonetheless, only one of the Fundy islands and all of them have much in common.
Campobello however was the vacation home of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the scene of his childhood summers, and where he was struck down by polio at the age of 39. The summer residence of Roosevelt's "beloved island" could only be described as a cottage by one whose first home was a mansion at Hyde Park. Still, it stands today as an authentic period piece, overlooking Friar's Bay, full of Roosevelt memorabilia, and evocative of the man and the presidency many of us are old enough to remember.
NO-MAN'S LAND
It was, in fact, something of a shared experience. Come to think of it, all of us in the group visiting Campobello could remember just where we were when we first heard of Roosevelt's death, yet all but one of us were Canadians. This may not be so remarkable as the corollary: That no one could remember where they were when the news came of the passing of Mackenzie King, or, for that matter, of any other Canadian public figure. (Perhaps it is only fair to say that Roosevelt — unlike King — died in office so that the impact is greater.)
The acres that make up the Roosevelt Campobello International Park are only a part of the island but they are, by treaty, a unique sort of no-man's land. The Park is administered by a joint Canadian-American commission whose present chairman is the Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick, Bedard Robichaud, while the vice-chairman is Maine's Senator Ed Muskie. Even the commission's budget of $650,000 comes from both federal governments and is spent, with Solomon-like fairness, evenly among American and Canadian employees and suppliers. Within the Park, the territorial imperative belongs to Roosevelt's memory.
NO TAKERS
Even so, the cottage and grounds were up for sale little more than a decade ago. Fortunately, there were no takers. The government of New Brunswick, couldn't afford the upkeep. The Canadian government, which could afford it, nonetheless couldn't find the handle on a rationale for buying the place — besides, it had already erected a granite cairn to America's "statesman and humanitarian."
Finally, the owners of the property — a New York family — gave the place away, donating it to the governments of Canada and the United States. What followed this dreary and near-fatal example of international indifference was an exemplary illustration of international cooperation and between prime minister Lester B. Pearson and presidents Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, the park and the governing commission came into being.
So the sun shines bright — some of the time — on FDR's old Campobello home. But, of course, not necessarily for long. A few miles away, on the mainland, lies Eastport, Maine. Some of Eastport's burghers are hot to have an oil refinery and some say they are likely to get it.
If Eastport gets it refinery, there will be more in the air than the Fundy fogs and occasional showers. Pollution will rain on Campobello, souring the sphagnum in the bogs, poisoning the flora, repelling the bird life and — all too likely — destroying the marine life along the shores.
It would be ironical, to say the least. if Roosevelt's beloved outer island finally was destroyed by the corrosive greed of men such as those he opposed throughout his political career — all for the incapacities of politicians who followed him and were unworthy of his inheritance.