As published by The Guardian September 26, 2009
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Editor:
If 'location' is the watchword of the real estate industry, so timing is everything when it comes to heritage. Last year, the provincial government announced its commitment to the construction of a central museum complex to complete the provincial museum system that was begun in 1973. That system was created by a provincial government committed to preserving the Island's heritage and funded in large measure by federal monies made available to mark the centennial of Prince Edward Island's entry into Confederation.
The provincial museum system, preserving and interpreting the Island's past for Islanders and visitors, became the chief legacy of our centennial year.
Another anniversary now nears. The year 2014 will mark the sesquicentennial of the Charlottetown Conference of 1864, now recognized as a critical milestone on the road to Confederation. In the early 1960s, Ottawa formally recognized the centennial of the conference as the launching pad for the celebration of Canada's centennial and invested the remarkable sum - for that time - of $2.8 million to help a citizens' group fund a national shrine in downtown Charlottetown to the Fathers of Confederation. That "living memorial", the Confederation Centre of the Arts, has become an architectural landmark, cultural mecca and tourism anchor in the province.
In a small province with limited resources, where it always costs us proportionately more to keep up with the Joneses, 2014 offers a rare and wonderful opportunity. Why not use this 'one-of' funding opportunity to create another cultural legacy that will enrich the lives of Islanders, both present and future? Let's use the special funding opportunity of the upcoming sesquicentennial of the Charlottetown Conference to complete the task begun so bravely in 1973 by building a state-of-the-art provincial museum to complement the provincewide network of small, theme museums that currently exist. If not now, will we have to wait until the bicentennial before there is another such chance?
Edward MacDonald,
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