Letter: Beach threatened

Letter to the Editor by Charlotte Miller & Ann Schroeder Saltwire - Nov.12, 2022

Letter originally published here

To quote Yogi Berra, this is déja vu all over again: Once again, we are writing a letter to oppose Cabot’s same land-grab of the protected, pristine West Mabou Beach Provincial Park. Rather than send in the same letter we wrote in 2018, we’ll speak to some of the promises made in the pamphlet that Cabot recently circulated titled “Mabou Golf Course Information Package.”

Yes, we need jobs here in Mabou, yet we must look critically at Cabot’s promise to bring them: with no plans for restaurants or accommodations, how many jobs, and of what quality are we looking at? Anyone who has tried to get a table at the Red Shoe or find a place to rent in the summer knows that our tourism infrastructure is already maxed out. Local businesses are closing or reducing their hours due to an acute labour shortage. There are so few houses or land on the market that potential workers can’t move here to fill those jobs, let alone whatever ones Cabot may create. How does this add up?

Cabot claims to have “a proven record of environmental stewardship.” We need to examine this statement too. Nova Scotia has passed the Coastal Protection Act that is forward-looking in seeking to protect shorelines and mitigate the effects of coastal erosion. Is Cabot in a hurry to get this golf course, proposed for low-lying dunes and shorelines and situated well beyond the likely setbacks, built before this act is proclaimed? That doesn’t sound like environmental stewardship to us.

Another claim from Cabot is that it “will dedicate resources to improving and maintaining existing public trails.” Once again, this promise doesn’t hold up: there are extensive trails along the estuary side of the park that fall within the proposed golf course site.

We urge Premier Tim Houston and Minister Timothy Rushton to immediately state that the province will stand by the commitment to preserve West Mabou Beach Provincial Park articulated in 2001 by then minister of natural resources Ernie Fage: "This property contains one of Nova Scotia's finest coastal beach and dune systems in a spectacular scenic setting and is a prime example of the type of Crown land that needs to be protected for future generations.”

Charlotte Miller & Ann Schroeder, Mabou