Heritage Blues Back on Agenda

Letters to the Editor (The Guardian) as Published on December 02, 2013

Editor: As a former board member and chair of the Museum and Heritage Foundation I was saddened but not surprised by the frustration expressed by current chair Harry Kielly over the total lack of progress in the continuing saga of a possible provincial museum for the Island.

P.E.I. remains the only province without such a provincial resource, which is massively ironic coming on the heels of the burst of heritage projects under the 2014 celebration boondoggle. Surely in a province where our natural and human history is billed a core value and attraction for visitors, this makes little sense. We will be left after 2014 with a bad taste in our mouths and a stack of receipts for less than memorable events with no lasting legacy. How sad.

It did not have to be this way. Back before 2001 when Founders Hall was being funded with $4 million in public money, many of us argued that “Flounders Hall” would have a short shelf life and become a cultural white elephant in a few years. Of course this proved to be the case.

Fewer than 8,000 visitors paid the $9.50 admission fee and the place lost $50,000 for the Harbour Authority which inherited the faded attraction. It’s a cheap but irresistible shot to say “We told you so.”

We were left with a beautifully restored and refurbished building, the 1906 CN rail car shop in what is probably the premier location in the province. At least that legacy was lasting. It is now up for grabs, looking for a new owner and purpose. It is not a perfect building for a provincial museum, but it is very, very good one. With some careful and creative thought, it could be a wonderful and real legacy post 2014.

Of course money is tight and one can’t argue really with updating hospitals and computer software to at least get into this century technologically, but could we not commit in 2014 to seeing this beautiful building as part of the solution in the future? It was a plank in the government’s platform, if anyone has a memory. Let’s see if we can get it back on the agenda.

Andy Robb,

Mermaid