Commendable but puzzling comments on 2014

 Editorial published in The Guardian on June 12, 2012 

Charlottetown Mayor Clifford Lee's recent comments expressing a desire to work with Quebec City to celebrate the historic Charlottetown and Quebec City Conferences were commendable, but also puzzling. Is this the same mayor who said plainly three months ago his city wouldn't be budgeting anything this year for the 150th anniversary of the Charlottetown Conference in 2014?

When the capital city brought down its budget for the new fiscal year in March, Mayor Lee lamented that with federal and provincial cutbacks, the city wouldn't be putting aside any cash this year for the 2014 celebrations. That was disappointing, and at the time we mildly challenged the mayor's party-pooper outlook.

So it was pleasantly surprising last week when Mayor Lee expressed enthusiasm for working together with Quebec City to "explore opportunities for our cities to work together, as both (conferences) are important events for Canadians to share in and be proud of." The mayor had recently travelled to Quebec City to meet with Mayor Regis Labeaume to discuss how the two cities could celebrate the 1864 conferences and the anniversary of Canada in 2017.

Then on the heels of that announcement, Charlottetown residents learned that the 2014 celebrations are not likely to include a tangible legacy project. The mayor said quite candidly that federal and provincial funding would be needed for such a project, and that he hasn't seen any indication that such funding is headed this way.

The Confederation Centre of the Arts was the acknowledged legacy project left here by the celebrations in 1964 marking the 100th anniversary of the Charlottetown Conference. The centre remains a visible reminder of what took place here in 1864, and has had a profound and lasting impact not only on the city and the province, but on the development of the performing arts in Canada. A similar legacy project marking the 150th anniversary could offer the same potential. Perhaps the mayor needs to put more effort into making that point with Ottawa and the province. Let's not take no for an answer just yet.