Houston ‘looking away’ from constituents’ concerns

Contributed by Margaret MacDonell The Cape Breton Post - October 27, 2025 Originally published here

Shared here in full with the author's permission

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston, above, came to power with the motto “listening to Nova Scotians,” says Halifax and West Mabou resident Maragret MacDonell, and while he regularly speaks of “mature conversations” it seems he’s not engaging in any with the people he was elected to serve. Photo by Ryan Taplin /The Chronicle Herald

I will never forget the moment back in April 2023 when I learned the Houston government had finally declared they would not be considering a golf course at West Mabou Beach Provincial Park. It was a moment of sweet relief and profound joy.

Sadly, that immense elation was short-lived.

In June 2023 I was en route to West Mabou when I noticed Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston and his entourage meeting the public at the Irving Station in Auld’s Cove. Thinking I should take the opportunity to personally thank him, I turned around and headed back to the gas station parking lot.

I walked confidently (who doesn’t like a sincere thank you?) over to where Premier Houston was standing, offered him a firm handshake, looked him straight in the eyes and said, “I’m here to thank you for saving West Mabou Beach Provincial Park.”

My heart sank. He looked away. He did not maintain my eye contact. He turned his head and his facial expression appeared to be one of being caught out. It felt awkward and confusing.

I left crestfallen, part of me cursing my fateful decision to turn my car around, wishing I could have held onto for a bit longer, even for just the summer, a world where places like West Mabou Beach Provincial Park could be safe, well and truly protected.

‘He looked away.’ In 2025 that phrase quite aptly describes our collective experience of Premier Houston’s governance.

The leader who came to power with the motto “listening to Nova Scotians” has looked away from nation-defining democratic processes, consultation with First Nations and with local communities.

While Premier Houston regularly speaks of “mature conversations,” it seems he’s not engaging in any with the people he was elected to serve.

Instead, he’s looking away from the concerns of constituents and health-care professionals regarding the dangers of uranium mining.

He’s eroding environmental regulations, ignoring the provincial commitment to protect at least 20 per cent of our lands and waters by 2030, and undermining government transparency and accountability.

At West Mabou Beach Provincial Park, he’s looking away from our repeatedly expressed concerns about the loss of biodiversity and critical habitats, the use of cancer- and Parkinson’s-causing pesticides, the contamination of ground water and the Mabou Harbour watershed, the use of immense water resources for golf greens when wells are running dry, coastal flooding, the destruction of wetlands, coastal erosion and siltation, dead zones for fisheries and the forced surrender of protected, publicly owned and precious, deeply loved parkland.

He’s looking away from the ongoing significant distress of a community fearful of the loss of a cherished lifestyle steeped in cultural traditions that honour their forebears and their ties to the land and sea; who are fearful of the loss of the legacies of Fr. Bernie, Jim St. Clair and others who have appreciated and honoured the hard work and values of previous generations.

He’s looking away from constituents literally sick with worry and unable to imagine witnessing the nonsensical desecration of what they hold sacred. Some, both long-term residents and more recent newcomers, are simply stating, “we will have to leave.”

Communities across the province are likewise struggling to have their concerns heard and addressed. As Cape Breton University professor Tom Urbaniak recently wrote in the Cape Breton Post (‘Nova Scotia’s democracy is seriously ailing’, Oct. 17): “In this new reality, local communities are special interests. By contrast, wealthy private developers are altruistic partners.”

We all have issues we care deeply about whether it’s accessing health care, the health and safety of our communities, or preventing the dire environmental impacts of resource extraction. Don’t we all deserve a government that doesn’t look away but rather makes an effort to listen and respond to these concerns?

Premier Houston cannot possibly continue to claim his administration cares about protecting Nova Scotians while steadfastly looking away from all we value, all we are facing, and all we have put our trust in him to do.

Margaret MacDonell

Halifax/West Mabou