A homegrown alternative to the West Mabou Beach Golf Course

Letter to the Editor by Brennan O'Leary The Inverness Oran - October 28, 2025

Dear Editor,

I sat beside Rodney MacDonald all through high school, some would say we were inseparable. During the previous push for a golf course at West Mabou Beach, I visited Rodney and we talked at length about the future of our little village.

Like mine, Rodney's family were settlers from Scotland who built some of the foundational businesses in this community. The Red Shoe used to be a clothing store owned by Rodney's grand aunt, Mary Beaton, and my grand uncle is the Archie of Archie's Esso.

My great, great, great-grandfather was John Cameron. He emigrated here from Lochaber, Scotland in 1805. Those would have been hard times indeed. Naturally, I am asking myself, what would our ancestors think about an American billionaire cashing in on all that hard work, extracting our natural wealth and giving relatively little in return.

Rodney talked about a former village near the Gaelic College, not unlike our own. They lost their gas station, then their grocery store. Soon after, the village became nothing more than a summer home for people from somewhere else. Rodney fears that could happen here. He is right to fear that. And, though some of you might not like to hear this, I know my friend is doing what he thinks best for our future.

Around the same time, I paid a visit to my beloved chemistry teacher, Ms. Hunt. I just can't bring myself to call her by her first name, but I am sure everyone knows who I am referring to. I pleaded with her to contend with both the economic and environmental impact of the golf course proposal. It is imperative that we do so if there is to be a solution that works for everyone.

So, if you would indulge me, I have an idea....

How many of you have seen folks admiring the breathtaking sunsets from the Mabou Marina? When I returned home after 30 years, I wondered why there hadn't been more development around our paradisal harbour.

I have lived in many great cities around the world from San Francisco to Dublin to Hong Kong to Rio de Janeiro. Like Mabou, these places have a spectacular waterfront. Unlike Mabou, that waterfront is well developed to endlessly benefit those communities. Why not Mabou? What are we waiting for? Someone else to do it? A billionaire from abroad? A few days ago, it popped into my head. Could we transform the hill where our Glebe House currently sits into a site for a number of business that could cash in on those sunsets? The Glebe House is a large home occupied by one priest and located next to a large parking lot that is almost always empty. There is a lovely spot beside the church for a cozier Glebe House.

We would now have space for a year- round restaurant serving quality, comfort food like the Mull, a former eatery that is very much missed by locals and visitors alike. Maybe a museum that honours our fishermen and farmers. A quaint shop to buy local arts and crafts. And, I would not protest a tasty bakery.

As they say, location, location, location, in other words, a very strong possibility of thriving. The postcard-perfect view, a charming village, local music in the air, and a soon-to-be rejuvenated marina, I dare say, Mabou would be the destination for the west coast of Cape Breton Island.

The entire development could be a cooperative energized by the youth of our community. If the bottom line was a thriving village rather than purely profit, successful businesses could pay a living wage and then some. Imagine that, a future that brings the community together rather than tearing it apart. A future we own, not some American billionaire.

Of course, this would require money, but that is what banks are for. We could start by converting the Glebe House into the restaurant with a big outdoor patio overlooking our picturesque harbour. A modest investment together with a heaping helping of local love, and we've got our first moneymaker.

In time, we could develop the lower part of the hill and eventually expand our waterfront all the way to the ball field where Rodney and I played as young whippersnappers. On that 13-acre parcel, we could have a majestic, seaside park, a divine seafood restaurant, a year-round wellness centre for retreats, weddings, and such, maybe some mini golf...nah, make that a pond/outdoor skating rink surrounded by local art installations. More parking. And a breathtaking 1km waterside boardwalk connecting it all.

Too ambitious? Not if our survival as a community is at stake. Too expensive? Maybe not, we could build with hempcrete, well suited to a cooperative for both labour and materials.

With this plan, the current government avoids a controversy that could still dog them in the next election note to forward thinking conservatives there is something about folks losing their running water, whether the culprit is a golf course or dry skies, that might make it considerably harder to defend an economy- first platform.

Instead, Premier Tim Houston could tout Mabou as a shining star on the shining waters of a still pristine Nova Scotia shoreline, a cooperative model for other small communities to emulate in this lagging economy. Everyone wins.

Sincerely,

Brennan O'Leary 

Mabou