Island Edition returns for 2023 🎉

IN THIS ISSUE

➡️ Building a district around Province House 

➡️ When Denny calls it, are you registered to vote?

➡️ Awesome photo of Tea Cup Rock wins national award

QUICK HITS

Short-term Pain: If you use the Hillsborough Bridge, this next one might sting. The province has a plan to rebuild the intersection at Grafton Street and Riverside Drive on the Charlottetown side of the bridge. Although it’s no secret that this project is in the pipeline, it seems work will be moving forward soon. Charlottetown’s water and sewer utility will begin work next month on identifying underground infrastructure that may need to be upgraded or relocated as part of the overall project. The public works committee heard last week that the province has finalized design work for the new intersection, but no construction timeline has been announced.

🚧 Learn and Earn: The Construction Association of PEI has a well built offer for Islanders considering a career in carpentry – an offer that includes paid training and free work boots. Fifteen eligible Islanders will be selected to take part in an eight week Discover Carpentry program, which includes 240 paid apprenticeship hours, free boots, and other protective equipment. An information session will be held next week to explain the finer details. Check out this post for information on the program, including eligibility criteria.

Voter Registration: Elections PEI is wasting no time to ensure Islanders are ready to vote in the next provincial election, which will be held either on or before Oct. 2. Starting this week, 58,000 households will receive voter registration cards in the mail. If the information on the card is correct, then you’re ready to vote. If there’s an error, or you do not receive one, then you can visit this voter registration portal to make changes, or call Elections PEI at 1-888-234-8683 (VOTE). If you have a minute to spare, you can use the registration portal right now to verify your information, or make changes if you recently moved.

URBAN DESIGN

Big Changes Planned for Charlottetown

Remember the garden hose that shot (hopefully clean) water up from a storm drain on Victoria Row? Well, lackluster public water features in Charlottetown may soon be a thing of the past. There’s an ambitious plan to transform the area of downtown around Province House into a distinct district. One piece of this plan is a new interactive water feature in front of Province House that actually looks pretty cool.

But there’s much more to this plan, which would cost upwards of $11M to fully realize. Victoria Row would be completely rebuilt and a portion of Sydney Street would be converted into a pedestrian mall. New plazas would be placed throughout the district to encourage public gatherings. The entire area would be tied together with a shared design. Calling it an ambitious plan might be an understatement, I’m really only scratching the surface.

For now, this reimagined Province House Historical District, as it’s called, all lives in a report produced for Charlottetown Area Development Corporation and the city. The public is invited to an open house this evening (Wednesday) to view renderings of the plan, ask questions, and provide feedback. The meeting will be held at the Charlottetown Learning Library from 6-8PM.

The report is available for download on the city’s website if you want to read all the details and preview some of the images for yourself. Be warned: the PDF is 138MB, so you might want to wait until you’re on WiFi before opening it up. Here’s the link to the report.

WARM UP WEDNESDAY

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BY THE NUMBERS

Inflation Annual Review

📈 8.8% - As if you need another reminder that the cost of living is up, numbers released by Statistics Canada on Tuesday made it official: overall inflation on PEI was up 8.8 per cent year-over-year in 2022, outpacing the Canadian average of 6.8 per cent.

📊 9.7% - Food prices on PEI were up almost double digits in 2022, ending the year at a 9.7 per cent increase over 2021. Gasoline was up double digits three times over, ending the year at a 34% increase.

📉 2% - Some good news was also released Tuesday; PEI’s inflation dropped two full points in December when compared to November, the sharpest drop all year. But if you don’t fuel up a vehicle, your wallet probably didn’t get much of a break. Gasoline dropped from $2.04 per litre in late October to $1.58 per litre in December.

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#PEIslandEdition

Gone, but still an award worthy subject 🏆

Calgary-based photographer Jeremy Klager captured this long exposure of Tea Cup rock while visiting the Island a few months back, just before Fiona destroyed the uniquely PEI landmark. Jeremy’s photo won Canadian Geographic’s Epic Landscape award for the 2022 Canadian Photos of the Year contest. @jeremyklager on IG.

Tag @PEIslandEdition or use #PEIslandEdition to get your post featured in Island Edition!

COMMUNITY CORNER

💵 Cornwall Budget Consultation: Cornwall is asking residents and stakeholders to submit their input for the town’s 2023-24 budget. Feedback will be accepted until 8AM on Feb. 7. Submissions can be sent via an online survey, or by using the contact information available on this page.

👥 Stratford Connects: Stratford has launched a suite of social engagement programs to help seniors and newcomers find new connections in the town. The town issued a news release outlining the programs, which includes an app, in more detail. An information session will be held from 2-3PM at Stratford Town Centre on Tuesday, Jan. 24.

Send a quick message if your organization would like to publish a quick PSA. There's no charge for these. Max three per-issue.

WEATHER

Wednesday

🌨️ H 0°C 🌡️ L -1°C 
💨 W 20 km/h, gusting 30-50 (chance of fluries)

Thursday

☁️ H -1°C 🌡️ L -4°C
💨 NW 22 km/h, gusting 44

THANKS FOR READING!