Open Letter to MLA Kyle MacQuarrie

Letter to the Editor by Elly Heim

The Oran - Nov. 4, 2025

Open letter to MLA Kyle MacQuarrie,

Recently, I read your response to another constituent regarding your voting down the motion to recommend the government not remove, downgrade or alter the protected status of any designated coastal protected area in Nova Scotia.

Let’s look at it in detail: You are right in saying that “a motion cannot change legislation or regulations,” however, your voting NO to it is a clear indicator of where you stand on this issue, even though you claim that you have “a strong commitment to park land.”

Later in your response you wrote, “Taking a position not to alter the protection of coastal area could prevent changing wilderness area to a nature reserve.” I am confused: just a few sentences before, you wrote that the motion couldn’t change legislation or regulations. Which is it?

The most absurd part of your reply, however, is when you write that “this artificial performance and further rhetoric have the potential to ignite conflict in our community.” I am asking you: Do you actually live in this community? Because conflict had been ignited long before said motion was introduced. Conflict has been in the community ever since Cabot first laid eyes on our precious Provincial Park. And the conflict comes to a head every time they try to take it from us.

This is the third time we are going through this. Every time it takes a toll. Mind you, I know that you may not have been around during the previous attempts, since you lived abroad for a long time, but for those of us who have gone through this again and again, it gets worse every time.

Your government could have prevented this by changing the Provincial Parks Act to ensure the protection of all our Provincial Parks. Instead, amending the legislation has been stalled ever since Premier Houston stated in 2023 that our government had no intention to allow a proposed golf course in our park, and Minister Rushton assured us that there was no “pathway or mechanism (…) to allow a golf course to be developed within a park.”(April 2023) I want to know… What has changed since then?

Conflict is being sown by a government that appears to do deals behind closed doors. Even though the media and constituents asked about a proposal numerous times, the existence of a proposal was continually denied. Only when former Minister Rushton was asked by CBC’s Michael Gorman did we find out that there had been ‘talks.’ That was on October 3. And only on October 31 did we find out that the government had actually been sitting on Cabot’s proposal since August 21. Speculation and half-truths have the potential to sow division in a community, don’t you think?

It would have been great to talk to you and tell you all my concerns in person, but I find it extremely difficult to get an appointment with you. So, I guess I had to find another way.

Sincerely,

Elly Heim,

Mount Young