Call it a slap in the face. Call it a kick in the bum with a frozen boot. Call it a royal raspberry.
Call it what it is – a betrayal of Edmonton, of Alberta, and of history.
Late Wednesday afternoon, Alberta’s new infrastructure minister Jeff Johnson got the phone call delivering the ugly news.
The federal government has pulled its long-promised funding for the Royal Alberta Museum – that’s $92 million, yanked out from under our collective Albertan noses.
That money was pledged to the province, by a past Liberal government, almost a decade ago. It was Ottawa’s gift to the people of Alberta, a symbolic gesture to mark our centennial as a member of Confederation.
Sadly, we still seem to be second-rate members.
Without notice, warning, or consultation, the feds have reneged on their deal. Johnson insists the province is still committed to the RAM project, but that he can’t sign the deals he needs to sign by the Nov. 16th deadline. As a result, the project, so often delayed, has been delayed once more.
“We’re disappointed,” Johnson told me Wednesday night. “Disappointed and surprised.”
Mayor Stephen Mandel, one of the downtown RAM project’s greatest champions, was far more blunt. Far too blunt for me to put in print. Let’s just say he turned the air of the elegant Government House drawing room blue with words I can’t put in this blog. (Let’s just say I added a few of my own.)
Here’s what he said that is fit to print.
“I’m tired of being screwed as an Albertan. I’m tired of being treated as a second class citizen,” he fumed. “I’m so disappointed, that something that was so important to the city can be snatched away without any consultation. This is unconscionable. It is an absolutely unconscionable act. It’s not even about the money so much. It’s about the disrespect this shows to the city and the people of Edmonton.”
Mandel was flying high, Wednesday afternoon, when City Council voted 10-3 to sign an arena deal with Oilers owner Daryl Katz. The museum news shattered that euphoria.
“As high was I was today for the arena, I am way lower,” he told me.
For Mandel, who helped to orchestrate the deal to buy the old Post Office building behind City Hall as the new RAM site, the museum was every bit as essential to his downtown renewal vision as the arena. The RAM, he says, is “foundational” to the revitalization of Chinatown and 97th Street, of the northeast edge of the downtown core.
That, of course, was a big part of the RAM’s appeal. But for me, the new Royal Alberta Museum was about far, far more than downtown renewal, or tourism, or iconic architecture. A museum isn’t just an urban planning tool. It’s the embodiment of our provincial heart and soul, a centre for the study and celebration of history, of culture, of science. Sure, it’s where we take our kids to learn about dinosaurs and wolves and First Nations culture, where we take our visiting aunts and cousins to learn about our past and our natural wonders. But it’s also a centre for academic research, part of what makes us a centre of intellectual excellence. It’s a companion to our universities and our art gallery. It’s a vital part of our sense of who we are and why we matter.
We heard a lot during Tuesday’s arena public hearings about what Edmonton needs to be “a world class city” or a “tier one city” – and believe me, we need a world class, tier one museum, every bit as much as we need a really great ice rink.
And beyond all that – I’m sick and tired, as an Edmontonian, of the way our federal government perennially treats us like the Charlie Brown city of Canada. Like Lucy, the Harper government sets the football in front of us – only to yank it away, leaving us lying flat on our backs, looking stupid. The National Portrait Gallery. Expo. Now the RAM. Oh, there’s always a convenient excuse about the world economy or security or national interests. But time and again, we believe the grand promises, only to have our hearts broken. Only to vote the Harper government right back again.
Still, this is the way the feds chose to welcome Alberta’s new premier into the national circle – by embarrassing her, and all of us, one more time.
So much for Laurie Hawn, the CPC who championed the RAM, who appeared, all smiles and hand shakes, at every funding announcement and photo op. In fairness to him, I’m sure he tried to advocate for the museum. I think he’s sincerely committed to it. But he hasn’t the juice at the cabinet table to make things happen. Never mind how many tax dollars Edmontonians and Albertans contribute to the national pot. We pay in. We don’t get back. That’s our Confederation deal.
Last week, CPC MP Rona Ambrose was here to unveil a plaque, marking the Persons Case, to be installed at Emily Murphy Park.
That’s what we get from Ottawa to commemorate our history and our role in Confederation. A plaque.
And if we don’t demand better – perhaps that’s all we deserve.
Origin
Source: Edmonton Journal
Call it what it is – a betrayal of Edmonton, of Alberta, and of history.
Late Wednesday afternoon, Alberta’s new infrastructure minister Jeff Johnson got the phone call delivering the ugly news.
The federal government has pulled its long-promised funding for the Royal Alberta Museum – that’s $92 million, yanked out from under our collective Albertan noses.
That money was pledged to the province, by a past Liberal government, almost a decade ago. It was Ottawa’s gift to the people of Alberta, a symbolic gesture to mark our centennial as a member of Confederation.
Sadly, we still seem to be second-rate members.
Without notice, warning, or consultation, the feds have reneged on their deal. Johnson insists the province is still committed to the RAM project, but that he can’t sign the deals he needs to sign by the Nov. 16th deadline. As a result, the project, so often delayed, has been delayed once more.
“We’re disappointed,” Johnson told me Wednesday night. “Disappointed and surprised.”
Mayor Stephen Mandel, one of the downtown RAM project’s greatest champions, was far more blunt. Far too blunt for me to put in print. Let’s just say he turned the air of the elegant Government House drawing room blue with words I can’t put in this blog. (Let’s just say I added a few of my own.)
Here’s what he said that is fit to print.
“I’m tired of being screwed as an Albertan. I’m tired of being treated as a second class citizen,” he fumed. “I’m so disappointed, that something that was so important to the city can be snatched away without any consultation. This is unconscionable. It is an absolutely unconscionable act. It’s not even about the money so much. It’s about the disrespect this shows to the city and the people of Edmonton.”
Mandel was flying high, Wednesday afternoon, when City Council voted 10-3 to sign an arena deal with Oilers owner Daryl Katz. The museum news shattered that euphoria.
“As high was I was today for the arena, I am way lower,” he told me.
For Mandel, who helped to orchestrate the deal to buy the old Post Office building behind City Hall as the new RAM site, the museum was every bit as essential to his downtown renewal vision as the arena. The RAM, he says, is “foundational” to the revitalization of Chinatown and 97th Street, of the northeast edge of the downtown core.
That, of course, was a big part of the RAM’s appeal. But for me, the new Royal Alberta Museum was about far, far more than downtown renewal, or tourism, or iconic architecture. A museum isn’t just an urban planning tool. It’s the embodiment of our provincial heart and soul, a centre for the study and celebration of history, of culture, of science. Sure, it’s where we take our kids to learn about dinosaurs and wolves and First Nations culture, where we take our visiting aunts and cousins to learn about our past and our natural wonders. But it’s also a centre for academic research, part of what makes us a centre of intellectual excellence. It’s a companion to our universities and our art gallery. It’s a vital part of our sense of who we are and why we matter.
We heard a lot during Tuesday’s arena public hearings about what Edmonton needs to be “a world class city” or a “tier one city” – and believe me, we need a world class, tier one museum, every bit as much as we need a really great ice rink.
And beyond all that – I’m sick and tired, as an Edmontonian, of the way our federal government perennially treats us like the Charlie Brown city of Canada. Like Lucy, the Harper government sets the football in front of us – only to yank it away, leaving us lying flat on our backs, looking stupid. The National Portrait Gallery. Expo. Now the RAM. Oh, there’s always a convenient excuse about the world economy or security or national interests. But time and again, we believe the grand promises, only to have our hearts broken. Only to vote the Harper government right back again.
Still, this is the way the feds chose to welcome Alberta’s new premier into the national circle – by embarrassing her, and all of us, one more time.
So much for Laurie Hawn, the CPC who championed the RAM, who appeared, all smiles and hand shakes, at every funding announcement and photo op. In fairness to him, I’m sure he tried to advocate for the museum. I think he’s sincerely committed to it. But he hasn’t the juice at the cabinet table to make things happen. Never mind how many tax dollars Edmontonians and Albertans contribute to the national pot. We pay in. We don’t get back. That’s our Confederation deal.
Last week, CPC MP Rona Ambrose was here to unveil a plaque, marking the Persons Case, to be installed at Emily Murphy Park.
That’s what we get from Ottawa to commemorate our history and our role in Confederation. A plaque.
And if we don’t demand better – perhaps that’s all we deserve.
Origin
Source: Edmonton Journal
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