{"id":28562,"date":"2023-01-18T16:52:51","date_gmt":"2023-01-18T20:52:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chmafm.com\/welcome\/?p=28562"},"modified":"2023-01-25T12:51:17","modified_gmt":"2023-01-25T16:51:17","slug":"years-of-planning-and-a-salmon-dinner-lead-to-major-public-funding-commitment-to-future-of-ralph-pickard-bell-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chmafm.com\/welcome\/years-of-planning-and-a-salmon-dinner-lead-to-major-public-funding-commitment-to-future-of-ralph-pickard-bell-library\/","title":{"rendered":"Years of planning and a salmon dinner lead to major public funding commitment to future of Ralph Pickard Bell library"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Ralph Pickard Bell library just took a giant step closer to a renewal project that has been in the works for years. On Tuesday afternoon, dignitaries, media, and members of the Mount Allison community gathered for a joint announcement from the provincial and federal governments of a combined $36 million in funding to help make the renovation a reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Provincial post-secondary education minister Trevor Holder, Mount Allison Dean of Libraries Rachel Rubin, federal minister of infrastrucutre Dominic Leblanc, and Mount Allison president Dr. Jean Paul Boudreau. Photo: Erica Butler<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

MP for Beaus\u00e9jour and federal minister of infrastructure Dominic Leblanc announced $26 million towards the project coming from the green infrastructure stream of the Canada-New Brunswick bilateral infrastructure agreement. \u201cThere were a number of hundreds of millions of dollars that had not been allocated in the existing Canada-New Brunswick agreement,\u201d said Leblanc after the announcement on Tuesday. \u201cThis is one example of the decisions that we made with the government of New Brunswick to access that funding, to do important infrastructure projects around the province.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leblanc says the project fits under the green infrastructure stream since the renovations will make the Ralph Pickard Bell Library \u201cworld-leading in terms of its environmental footprint.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two of New Brunswick\u2019s provincial ministers also attended Tuesday. Minister of Health and Mount Allision alumnus Bruce Fitch was there, along with Post-Secondary Education minister Trevor Holder, who announced New Brunswick\u2019s contribution to the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m incredibly proud to announce today a $10 million commitment from the provincial government to support the programming needs here at Mount Allison University,\u201d said Holder, to applause from those gathered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mount Allison president Dr. Jean Paul Boudreau addresses the room at the Owens Art Gallery on Tuesday, January 17, 2023. Photo: Erica Butler<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With the total cost of the retrofit roughly projected at about $65 million, Mount Allison will still have a hefty sum\u2013about $30 million\u2013to fundraise. A news release from the university says it will \u201craise the remainder of project costs through a combination of philanthropic support and operational funding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A major renovation of the RP Bell library has been in the works since 2017, when Mount Allison launched its \u201cVision 2025\u201d committee, which hosted focus groups and surveys to come up with a list of guiding principles for the project. Then in January 2020, a new president\u2019s committee was struck to move the project along, right before the COVID-19 pandemic struck Canada. Another round of university and wider community consultations took place in December 2020, and by March 2021 architects were working on functional plans for the renovation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the planning has been happening since 2017, the genesis of Tuesday\u2019s $36 million public funding announcement seems to have occurred over a dinner at the home of Mount Allison president Dr. Jean Paul Boudreau.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI remember a dinner we had\u2026 it’s almost two years ago, where Dr. Boudreau had a number of colleagues, including Premier Higgs join with people like John Bragg and other business leaders,\u201d recalled Leblanc on Tuesday. \u201cI spoke to John Bragg\u2014who’s in Hawaii\u2014I spoke to him yesterday to share this fantastic news with him. But that, for me, was the genesis of understanding, Jean-Paul, your remarkable vision for innovation and learning at Mount Allison. It took us a bit of time, but we’re here today. And it’s a very, very important announcement for me personally as the Member of Parliament for Beaus\u00e9jour.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minister Trevor Holder also recalled the dinner in question, with not only billionaire John Bragg and Premier Blaine Higgs in attendance, but also former New Brunswick premier Frank McKenna. Both McKenna and Bragg have made significant charitable donations to Mount Allison, and are inaugural founders of the Frank McKenna School of Philosophy, Politics, & Economics<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe certainly had a lengthy discussion about the opportunity here at Mount Allison,\u201d recalled Holder. \u201cBut also the opportunities in this province to start lining up our post secondary education with our labour market demands.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Jean Paul Boudreau also recalled the dinner, which he says took place August 18, 2021. \u201cI\u2019m so glad that I cooked that salmon that night for you,\u201d said Boudreau, to laughter from the audience, \u201cbecause it proved to be quite prophetic for today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mount Allison\u2019s announcement <\/a>says the renewed building would, “offer a new hub for innovation \u201d and also \u201cprovide opportunities for businesses and employers to connect with students and faculty, as well as community members.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The full house at the announcement Tuesday meant that Tantramar\u2019s full slate of political representatives were in the room. In addition to Beaus\u00e9jour MP Dominic Leblanc, MLA Megan Mitton and Tantramar Mayor Andrew Black were both on hand. Mitton said she was excited to see what would come of the announcement. \u201cI know there’s a lot of work ahead,\u201d said Mitton. \u201cLike where to put all those books while they do the renovations? But it’s a good problem to have.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tantramar mayor Andrew Black, Memramcook-Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton, and Beaus\u00e9jour MP Dominic Leblanc at the Owens Art Gallery on January 17, 2023. Photo: Erica Butler<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mayor Black said he was pleased to hear about innovation and entrepreneurship in the announcement. \u201cThere has been lots of activity within the town of Sackville that stems from the incubation work that’s done at Mount Allison,\u201d said Black. \u201cAnd I’m very hopeful that that will continue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Boudreau says the plans for the renovated building also include opening a physical connection to the Sackville community. Boudreau says the plan is to \u201copen up\u201d the rear of the building on York Street, so the library can both face the academic quad on campus, and the community of Sackville. \u201cWe think that’s really important,\u201d says Boudreau, \u201cbecause the energy and the passion between the work in the library and the work of our community, we think are perfectly synergistic. So the opportunity to open the back of the library to the community is important. We think it sends a very strong message for our commitment to our community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The talk of community and business-focussed spaces will not take away from the Ralph Pickard Bell\u2019s role as a \u201ctop-knotch\u201d research library, said Boudreau. \u201cIt will remain a very important research-based library for our students, our faculty, and for the scholars who come and see this as a beautiful repository of really important materials.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have a phenomenal collection, our archival materials are second to none. And we want to celebrate that and showcase that,\u201d said Boudreau. \u201cAnd what better way to do that than to create a new, beautiful, innovative, 21st century space to host this great library of ours.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dean of Libraries Rachel Rubin in the Ralph Pickard Bell library. Photo: Erica Butler<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Rachel Rubin is the relatively new Dean of Libraries at Mount Allison, and says she\u2019s absolutely thrilled with the funding announcement. \u201cThis is such an amazing opportunity for Mount Allison, for the community, for our region,\u201d says Rubin. \u201cSo I’m just delighted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hear Rachel Rubin in conversation on Tantramar Report:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Planning for “something important and significant”: work continues on the remaking of the RP Bell Library<\/a><\/blockquote>