A Canadian icon is in desperate shape and badly in need of a fresh coat of paint.

Negotiations are underway to transfer ownership of the lighthouse at Peggy's Cove from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to the Nova Scotia Department of Tourism, and a fresh paint job paid for by the federal government could brighten talks.

The lighthouse is an instantly recognized symbol and a beacon of tourism in Nova Scotia, but its light is starting to fade.

"It's sad. It's decrepit. It shouldn't be that way," says visitor Gary Burnfield. "Everywhere we go, we see signs of different priorities."

"Well, it's so amazing, and it's so sad that they're letting it go," says tourist Carol Kavenaugh, who is visiting from Ontario with Burnfield. "It's a shame it's not being maintained."

A local man named Richard, originally from Germany, rents cottages to visitors in the area and he has a solution to the problem.

"If they take from everybody two bucks, they can renovate. It's very simple," he says.

The continuing disrepair is particularly painful for Gary MacDonald of the Nova Scotia Lighthouse Preservation Society.

"Peggy's Cove is in bad condition," he says. "It's been three or four years since it was last painted."

The Nova Scotia government is in negotiations with the federal government to transfer ownership of the lighthouse. There is no deadline set for the takeover, however, and the condition of the lighthouse is delaying the process.

"We'd like to see the lighthouse painted and turned over in as good a condition as it possibly can," says Bob Book of the Nova Scotia Department of Economic and Rural Development and Tourism.

The lighthouse was a national embarrassment in 2009 before it was painted but the $25,000 paint job hasn't lasted long.

"Any lighthouse in a marine environment like that, the paint does not last," says MacDonald.

Both he and Book believe the next time the lighthouse is painted the existing paint should be removed entirely, right down to the concrete, but that's part of the problem.

"Environmental issues are consistent with virtually all the lighthouses that are being divested, because in many cases there has been lead paint and other environmental issues," says Book.

He says the issue of who will cover the paint bill needs to be sorted out first, and it won't be cheap.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Rick Grant