The cannons, which have been in storage for several years at the Public Works yard, used to face northward from Westmount Park towards Sherbooke Street, and were a familiar sight to generations of Westmounters.

Three years ago, they were moved into storage so that their wooden carriages could be repaired and the bronze barrels secured more firmly. A wave of thefts in Montreal in recent years, involving commemorative plaques and other precious metal objects, raised concern about the security of the cannons.

According to minutes of a recent meeting of city council's Safety, Utilities and Environment Standing Committee, the City decided to hire an expert from the United States to rebuild the wheels, so that the restoration is historically accurate.

"We know we want them to be restored," says Councillor George Bowser, Westmount's Commissioner of Public Works and Parks. "We know we want a good job and a respectable restoration done, and we know we want to put them back where they were.

"So we're just waiting for numbers, to know the cost. And if it exceeds the amount we're set aside in our budget, which I think was $20,000, we'll have to see about finding the funds or doing it in stages."

The wheels that were under the cannons were not authentic, says Marianne Zalzal, interim director of the Public Works department.

Zalzal was able to locate West Virginia wheelwright Karl Gayer with the assistance of Philippe Danton, a Montrealer who is also an expert in historical artifacts. Danton had previously done restoration projects for Westmount, including work on the war cenotaph.

"It's a special art, and according to his (Danton's) research, this is the most reliable person to make authentic wheels," Zalzal says. "He specializes in this type of workmanship. He was referred to Philippe by Parks Canada."

The final cost hasn't been determined, although it is now a virtual certainty that the cannons will be back where they belong. "The timeline is still several months," says Zalzal. "We're still in the process of getting (city council) a full estimate … We're looking at later in the fall."