Nova Scotia town fights to save local armoury in possible sign of things to come
OTTAWA — An emotional fight over an armoury in rural Nova Scotia could be a precursor of things to come for other small towns as the military moves to get rid of hundreds of buildings across the country.
Confusion has run rampant in Amherst, N.S., a town of 10,000 on the border with New Brunswick, since resident Russell Clarke received a letter from the Department of National Defence a few weeks ago.
“It was quite simple,” the 93-year-old Second World War veteran said in an interview. “They said the armoury would go on the block for sale or demolition at some point.”
The armoury was built in 1915 and later named after James Layton Ralston, the Amherst native who served as Canada’s defence minister for most of the Second World War.