The federal government is investing nearly $1-billion in small craft harbours across Canada.
As part of the Spring Economic Update 2026, Ottawa is proposing $957.8-million over five-years for the Small Craft Harbours Program, on top of Fisheries and Oceans Canada's existing annual budget of roughly $90-million.
Two Ontario harbours are among the first to benefit.
Rondeau Harbour near Erieau, home to 25 commercial fishing vessels, will see rehabilitation of key infrastructure, while Wheatley Harbour which supports 59 commercial fishing vessels will receive a new concrete deck, steel encapsulation of its East Pier, and dredging of its Entrance Channel.
Vald Demelo is a member of the Wheatley Harbour Committee and says the biggest issue is the entrance to the harbour including access and safety.
"The east wall needs to go out 2 or 300ft. that would shelter us a little bit better and then we could avoid the continuous spending of dredging the money they spent on dredging and make it a complete fix," says Demelo. "There's options to go to the rock pile with another bit of rock that would close that in as well. Make a nice pretty beach out there for the local residents to use. They are spending some money here, but that would be the major fix they could do for us."
Demelo says hydro updates have already been made.
"Most of our vessels travel from port to port," says Demelo. "So we'll go from here to Erieau. If they have a different hydro system, they're a plug in system. We'd have to adapt our plugs to be able to plug in to their location. Now it looks like we're all going to be on the same type of a plug. Insert circuit."
Jeff Vidler would like to see a good portion of the funding to be invested in Rondeau Harbour in Erieau to help with various needs including a shallow basin connected to the harbour.
"Wheatley has a bunch of projects they want to do with extensions," says Vidler. "Ourselves we have issues with sank moving in and there's projects we'd like to see done, of course dredging being number one for sure and our channel and our basin."
London West MP Arielle Kayabaga was in Chatham-Kent today to announce the funding.
She says the investment will help build climate-resilient harbour infrastructure that supports the commercial fishing industry and local economies for generations to come.