The bridge effect : a tentative score sheet for Prince Edward Island

Abstract

Whether and how to bridge the Northumberland Strait separating PEI from New Brunswick and the Canadian mainland has perhaps been the most keenly debated and most traumatic event in the modern history of Prince Edward Island (PEI), Canada’s smallest province (Begley, 1993; Calhoun, 1989; Johnston, 1995; Macdonald, 1997; Shea, 1993; Weale, 1991). In an island renowned for its vibrant cultural community and “creative class” (Florida, 2002), the historic mega-development project became a reference point for critical expression, a bouncing board for a self-conscious representation of the space of the island, and embodying powerful myths of place.