Transport museum receives funding
Published Friday August 13th, 2010
Province pitches in to allow public fundraising campaign for Transportation Discovery Centre
by greg weston
times & transcript staff
FREDERICTON - A museum commemorating Moncton's heritage as a transportation hub is now one step closer to realization after the provincial government contributed $1 million towards construction costs.
The Transportation Discovery Centre, the planned expansion and modernization of the current Moncton Museum site on Mountain Road, will take an interactive approach to impart the city's rail, road, air and shipping history to visitors and locals alike.
The plan for the centre blossomed out of an idea in the late 1990s to build a railway museum marking the city's key role in that field.
"There's been lots of letters and lots of meetings since then," says Greg Murphy of the CN Pensioners' Association.
But with a total price tag of $7.6 million, getting the project off the ground has been a long time coming.
Now that the province has added its share to the $3.7 million from the city and $500,000 from the federal government, Murphy says a fundraising committee can begin its efforts to raise another $2.5 million from the private sector and general public.
"We didn't want to go public until we had a commitment from the province and the federal government," he says.
"We wanted to get it started about a year ago, but then there was the downturn in the economy and it wasn't a good time to ask corporations and foundations to make donations."
Local Government Minister and Moncton East MLA Chris Collins says the province wanted to make sure the region's transportation past was preserved.
"It's been a very, very important part of Moncton's development. We're the hub of the Maritimes, so what better place to put a transportation discovery museum," he says.
"It will be a tremendous asset to the city of Moncton and it gives another reason for tourists, it gives a great educational tool for area youth and it also grounds our history to the heart of our community."
Mayor George LeBlanc agrees that Moncton needs to have such a facility to commemorate its past.
"Having starting out with shipbuilding, then getting into CN and transportation through the trucking industry and, now, our airport, it's always been an important part of Moncton," he says.
"It will also be an interactive centre for young people, including an education element as well. Put all that together, we hope it will be an attraction and a learning centre for downtown Moncton."
An old model of the proposed Moncton Museum expansion, photo courtesy of mmmatt