Editor:
The recent lobbying efforts by various Charlottetown folk to 'shoehorn' the provincial museum entity into a recycled Dominion Building contains, for me, a strong element of 'déjà vu'. In fact, it reminds me of the not-so-distant effort of the previous provincial government to provide a rationale for moving the artifactory to Murray River. In both cases, the facility (new or recycled) and locality came first; and the museum element was seized upon as a means to other ends, developmental and political.
But (attempting to put the horse before the cart), perhaps we should dare to think - to dream - more ambitiously. How about a brilliant purpose-built new building, designed by a modern-day William Critchlow Harris, and located in a lovely natural setting, near woods or seashore, and with ample parking in the vicinity for fleets of schoolbuses. There are, indeed, several such locations available in the Greater Charlottetown area.
Given the present economic down-turn and the stated intention of governments, pretty well everywhere, to 'spend' our way back to prosperity, there may never be a better opportunity to obtain major federal funding for such an undertaking. Suddenly, there's a lot of 'buzz' about large amounts of money becoming available for new buildings and 'infrastructure' generally.
Besides - I'm sure that creative minds can come up with other dynamic and appropriate culture-related purposes for the born-again Dominion Building.
Harry Baglole,
Bonshaw
No comments:
Post a Comment