Capital city should have spoken up earlier print this article

as published in The Guardian March 28, 2007
EDITORIAL STAFF The Guardian

Charlottetown city council may have some good arguments for wanting the provincial artifactory and central museum located in the capital, but why has it waited so long to advance them?

There’s been a flurry of controversy over the province’s decision to move the artifactory from its current location in a leaky storage facility in the West Royalty Industry Park to Murray River. Supporters of the decision say the village is a perfect site for it, but detractors claim it’s not central enough.

At a recent Charlottetown council meeting, councillors voted to ask the province to temporarily suspend plans to build an artifactory in Murray River in light of opposition expressed at recent public meetings sponsored by the Institute of Island Studies.

There’s certainly a good case for building an artifactory and central museum in the capital. But as Coun. Cecil Villard, who voted against the motion to ask the province to put the matter on hold, said: the city should have approached the province about this long ago.