The proposed museum artifactory - Cui bono?

Sent to The Guardian, 12 March 2007 by Dr. Douglas Sobey, Bedeque

Cui bono? - who benefits? This is the question that needs to be asked concerning the proposal – seemingly now beyond the proposal stage – to build at Murray River the much needed and long overdue artifactory for the Prince Edward Island Museum and Heritage Foundation.

Cui bono? Certainly not the museum. This is self-evident to anyone who looks at a map of the Island: how will a museum system that spans the entire province be efficiently served by an artifactory at the south-east end of the province. That it cannot, has also been clear from the responses to the proposal in the media over the past several months from the general public, as well as, more pertinently, from persons with knowledge, interest and experience in the field. And we must not forget that this is a decision whose legacy will last for many years, with its effects being acutely felt in the future budgeting of the Museum, in the additional costs of daily travel (both personal and publicly-funded travel), in the inconvenience and time spent in transporting bulky items for exhibits.

Cui bono? The membership of the Museum has been informed (and I quote from the recent letter of the chairperson of the Museum’s Board of Governors to Museum members) that the Board was told that “the building would be available only in Murray River through a project by the Northumberland Community Development Corporation”. It would therefore seem that before this decision was made there was no prior consultation with anyone concerned, no seeking the opinion of others – and that once decided there was no possibility of discussion. Instead it has been presented to the Museum as a ‘take this or get nothing’ offer. Which automatically leads back to the question: cui bono? – since it is not the Museum itself, then who benefits? We can only assume that it is the Northumberland Community Development Corporation? Which begs another question: what is the Northumberland Community Development Corporation, and even more importantly: why should it be singled out for the bestowal of this benefit? What particular interest and influence do they have in the Prince Edward Island Museum? Who else is to benefit? For example: who owns the land on which the artifactory is to be built? Who is to build it? Who is to work in it? – though in this last respect it seems that the wider community at Murray River will not benefit in any notable way, since an artifactory is a storage facility and not a tourist attraction and its staff will be small and specialized.

I am saddened that a decision with such long-term implications for the future of the Island’s heritage preservation is able to be taken at a political level without proper consultation with the public body directly concerned (namely the Museum), nor with relevant experts, nor with members of the wider public interested in the heritage of the province. The whole affair to me has shades of what can only be termed ‘oligarchial’ rule – I use the word in its classical sense, where a small political elite long-in-power make decisions and run affairs in their own interests, or in the interests of their partisans, rather than in the interests of the whole community. What is required in the decision-making process in this matter – and in all others of a similar nature in this province – is a return to government involving democratic principles where the wider public, directly and through their public representatives (i.e. the members of the Assembly), are consulted in the making of such decisions, rather then decisions being taken by a few in the interests of a few.