Capital Lobbies for Provincial Museum

WAYNE THIBODEAU
As published by The Guardian, Oct 15, 2009

The City of Charlottetown is joining a growing list of Prince Edward Island municipalities that want to be home to a proposed provincial museum.

During a meeting of Charlottetown city council on Tuesday, Coun. Kim Devine commended the provincial government for deciding to build a new provincial museum.

Devine said she plans on outlining Charlottetown’s case to the Department of Communities, Cultural Affairs and Labour. She said Charlottetown’s proposal would be “sustainable, feasible and a very appropriate location” that would provide year-round traffic to the museum.

“We are a city that has a rich history,” Devine told councillors.

Charlottetown’s pitch is that it is a capital city for the whole province, the centre with the largest population, as well as a well-established tourist destination.

The capital city says locating the provincial museum in Charlottetown would enhance other cultural centres in the city, including the Confederation Centre of the Arts, as well as strengthen existing historical resources, including the Public Archives located in the Coles Building.

Charlottetown isn’t the only municipality looking to be home to the provincial museum.

The Town of Stratford also wants the honour.

But the capital city may have an edge in the competition.

A firm specializing in planning and designing museums has completed a study looking at the possibility of converting the vacant Dominion Building on Queen Street into a provincial museum.

Lundholm Associates carried out the study for Canada Lands Company, the company that has control of the Dominion Building.

But Cultural Affairs Minister Carolyn Bertram said Wednesday no decision has been made on a location for a provincial museum. She did say the province is committed to creating a “centrally located” provincial museum.

“We are not going to prejudge where it is going to be, that is part of the upcoming process,” Bertram said last November.

Last November the provincial government said it was going to build a provincial museum.

But it may be years yet before construction actually begins. While a provincial museum has been promised, no money has been budgeted for the project.

The former government had promised to build a provincial artifactory in Murray River. The $4.9-million project would have housed more than 80,000 items that are currently being stored at the West Royalty Industrial Park.

But the Liberal government killed those plans, agreeing with some history buffs that Murray River was too far off the beaten track to house the facility.

Devine said creating a provincial museum to interpret and celebrate the Island’s history is long overdue.

“We are currently the only province that does not have a provincial museum,” said Devine. “But we are a province that is rich in its history.”