Lazy Decision-making

Letter to the Editor by Margaret MacDonell

The Oran - Nov. 4, 2025

So it appears we are being asked to sacrifice our Natural Environment Park at West Mabou to the altar of golf. All in the name of allegedly saving the Nova Scotia economy.

Hold. On. I think this economic argument is all a little too simplistic, spurious, irresponsible and oh,so, convenient.

Simplistic                                                                                                                                                                       It is reductionist and totally unnecessary to pit one against the other. We can do both, just not on the same land. BUILD THE GOLF COURSE SOMEWHERE ELSE.

A Natural Environment Park (a very special type of Provincial Park)  and a golf course are two very different entities. Apples and oranges really. It is unhelpful and disingenuous  to conflate the two different experiences.

There is nothing natural about a golf course with its artificial, man-made landscape and pesticide-laden turf. It is the antithesis of a natural environment. The whole point of a Natural Environment Park is to preserve the rich and rare biodiversity that currently exits there, not to destroy it. Duh.

There is only one Natural Environment Park in Inverness County: West Mabou Beach Provincial Park. It is a precious treasure and a crown jewel of the county and the province. In effect, if the government chooses to work for Cabot rather than us,  the Natural Environment Park will go the way of the dodo bird, it would cease to exist.

Spurious

The economy versus the environment argument is a false dichotomy. Again, they do not need to be pitted against each other. As we all know, West Mabou Beach Provincial Park is a driver of the local economy. Tourists from across the globe make their way to the park. Many, many Nova Scotians are repeat visitors. They rave about this rare beauty and the incredible memories made during their visit.

Just this fall we met a tourist from Germany walking the harbour-side trails. She had just made her way across Canada and, standing there, she stated her experience in the park was a highlight of her cross-country trek.

Sustainable tourism brings in far more money to the local economy of Cape Breton than does golf. So how does it make sense to compromise this existing economic driver? It costs the province very little to maintain and  yet yields a good return.  There is absolutely no case that to have economic benefit, the course would have to be in our park.

And then there’s the trickle-down economics argument that attempts to justify the pouring of literally millions of tax dollars into the subsidization of Cabot’s enterprises. Surely if this was the economic fix, the government wouldn’t need to argue - 14 years later - for the sacrifice our Natural Environment Park to save the ailing economy. You can’t have it both ways.

Irresponsible

How irresponsible of the Houston government to be seriously considering approval of Cabot’s proposal especially without doing their due diligence.  No community consultation. No consultation with the Mi’kmaq, just some vague references to some future consultations.  But the government has a duty to consult with Nova Scotians before the fix is in.

Shouldn’t the government have to clearly demonstrate the potential economic benefits to the local economy and to improved standards of living for the constituents of Inverness County?  Stop talking down to us and show us the numbers.

How irresponsible and unfeeling it has been to ignore our repeated pleas to amend the Provincial Parks Act over the last two and a half years, especially when making a few simple amendments could have prevented precisely this scenario. But instead the community is forced to rally yet again to protect our beloved park, at great personal and communal cost.

How irresponsible for our elected representative to consider removing the protected status of a Natural Environment Park at the behest of a private developer, let alone in a time of environmental emergency. Has the summer’s drought been forgotten already?

I still don’t’ know if Premier Houston has set foot in the park; and Natural Resources Minister Kim Masland has declined our invitation.

But despite all of this they are considering handing over a piece of our beloved coastline to private interests.  Premier Houston my boast of our 13,000 kms of coastline when it’s convenient, but approximately 87% of that coastline is privately owned. Clearly there is lots of private land that Cabot could choose from.  This small slice of our coastline is public and protected and is too important to surrender just to please an Ontario company and an American billionaire.

Convenient

How convenient to hide behind this problematic and faulty economic argument while consistently prioritizing the special interests of the billionaire class over the best interests and wellbeing of all Nova Scotians.

Margaret MacDonell 

Halifax/West Mabou