Legacy central to P.E.I. 2014 celebration talks

P.E.I. leaders gathered last week to discuss what the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of the Charlottetown Conference would look like, and the legacy it would leave behind.

The Charlottetown Conference in 1864 was the beginning of the negotiations that led to the creation of Canada. In 1964, part of the centennial celebration was the construction of the Confederation Centre of the Arts.

Almost 100 people gathered at Confederation Centre to discuss the sesquicentennial in 2014.

"It's a big project," said the event's acting CEO, Paulette Soloman.

"We want it to be the biggest celebration and commemoration that this province has ever seen, and that's going to take quite some time to plan, execute, market, tell people about."

Soloman hopes it will be the biggest year-long party in Island history.

It's expected to cost tens of millions of dollars, but there is still a lot of work to do to raise those funds.

Charlottetown Deputy Mayor Stu MacFadyen represented the capital city at the meeting. Charlottetown, which has received immeasurable benefit from the construction of Confederation Centre, is particularly interested in what the legacy of the sesquicentennial will be.

"We hope that as the capital city, the birthplace of Confederation, that we will have some legacy, and we hope it's something like a museum," said MacFadyen.

Organizers of the 2014 event say no decisions have been made on what legacy will be left behind this time. But they say it will be something for Islanders and Canadians to be proud of as they remember the meetings that led to the birth of a nation.