PEISome Charlottetown councillors are questioning the decision to spend $4.8 million to buy Boulder Park from the Confederation Centre, given the restrictions on how the city can use it.Any events planned on site strewn with rocks need both province and city to sign offTony Davis · CBC News · Posted: Aug 29, 2025 3:53 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours agoCouncillors retroactively balk over Charlottetown spending $4.8M on park it doesn’t controlBack in March, Charlottetown councillors voted to buy Boulder Park for $4.8M as a way to help support the Confederation Centre of the Arts renovations. Some city councillors say they didn’t know about restrictions on how the site can be used when they voted to buy it. CBC’s Tony Davis has more.Some Charlottetown councillors are questioning the decision to spend $4.8 million to buy Boulder Park from the Confederation Centre of the Arts, in a move that was meant to help fund the centre’s renovation efforts, given the restrictions on how the city can use it.”To discover that city council and city administration doesn’t have the final say as to what the future usage of this property is … we should have known that information from the onset,” said Coun. Mitchell Tweel.”You can’t make a major investment and spend taxpayer dollars at that magnitude and not know what the parameters are.”The park sits in front of the George Coles Building in downtown Charlottetown. In 1966, a push by Dr. Eric Harvie led to the importing of boulders from the 10 Canadian provinces to recognize how all parts of the country contributed to the Confederation Centre of the Arts, a Canadian centennial project. They were placed with identifying plaques on the prominent site, which is also home to a memorial fountain honouring those who work in dangerous professions. One provision in the agreement, which the city signed, spells out that the boulders in Boulder Park can’t be moved from their current locations. (Tony Davis/CBC)When the site changed hands this spring, the agreement included covenants specifying that the space has to stay green and that both the city and the provincial government have to sign off on any events taking place there.Tweel said he only found out about that second requirement when Discover Charlottetown put in an application to have a pre-Christmas market take place at Boulder Park. Both levels of government did end up approving the event. It was in the small print. There were maybe 100 pages or more.— Coun. Mitchell TweelTweel isn’t the only councillor to speak out. Coun. Justin Muttart and Deputy Mayor Alanna Jankov both expressed concern and said they should have known more about the agreement before they voted to prove the purchase in March.”It was in the small print. There were maybe 100 pages or more. Why wasn’t the information forthcoming when we were having these discussions?” Tweel said.”If you look at the resolution, I am not quite so sure that was illustrated in the resolution itself. It should have been crystal-clear and I question why it wasn’t.”What did the mayor know, and when?Tweel also believes Charlottetown Mayor Philip Brown knew more than he was letting on to councillors before the vote.”Go back to the July meeting. He stated that he was aware. He was aware and the rest of the council wasn’t,” he said.’I think it will be more of a passive area that will serve not only this area, but all of Charlottetown and all of the province,’ said Charlottetown Mayor Philip Brown. (Tony Davis/Charlottetown)At a committee meeting in July, Brown did state that he knew there would be some covenants attached to the site because it was part of the land upon which the provincial George Coles Building sits, and a walkway to nearby Province House goes right through it.However, on Thursday, Brown clarified that he knew some conditions but not all of them before the final agreement was signed in April.”I know Historic Queens Square is a piece of parkland; it’s a green space. We know that.” Brown said. “In terms of removing the boulders, I didn’t know that.”But understanding the significance, the historical significance, and the commemorative value of these rocks, or these stones representing the 10 provinces, yeah, that would be part of the deal.”More of a passive areaBrown still believes the purchase will still benefit the city, he said.”I think it will be more of a passive area that will serve not only this area, but all of Charlottetown and all of the province,” he said. The boulders include quartz diorite from B.C., Tyndall limestone from Manitoba and North Mountain basalt from Nova Scotia, as well as an 11th stone, Jasper conglomerate representing all of Canada. (Matt Rainnie/CBC)As for Tweel, he’s not sure how he would have voted if he’d read about the restrictions back in March.”I can’t stand before you now and say, ‘Well, had I known that, I’d still go ahead… and vote for the purchase of this particular property when we don’t have all the details.’ We still don’t have all the details. We still don’t know what is a permissible use and what is not,” Tweel said.In the committee meeting back in July, city staff said they’ve been working with the province on rules about how the park can be used. That’s expected to be done in the fall.Until that’s final, the province will be signing off on events on a case-by-case basis.ABOUT THE AUTHORTony Davis is a video journalist with a focus on municipal government, housing and addiction for CBC Prince Edward Island. He produces content for radio, digital and television. He grew up on P.E.I. and studied journalism at Holland College. You can email story ideas to anthony.davis@cbc.ca.
Big rocks, small print: Details of $4.8M park deal unclear, say Charlottetown councillors
