Premier urged to 'just say no' to West Mabou golf course proposal
- savewestmaboubeach
- Oct 24, 2022
- 2 min read
Francis Campbell Saltwire - Oct. 25, 2022
Full article published here
“We have goals on the amount of land we want to protect in the province so Nova Scotians can enjoy this beautiful province,” Tim Houston told reporters at Province House. “Parks are an important part of that system. If there is a proposal that comes forward we would look at that. Obviously it would have to go through extensive public consultation and other analysis.”
Those already lined up in opposition to the recently renewed proposal by Cabot Cape Breton to build a golf course within the parameters of the 218-hectare West Mabou Beach Provincial Park say that the government’s response should be an immediate and firm no.
“This company has gone after this place (West Mabou Beach park) and they’ve been told no, with a lot of good reasons, and yet they persist," said Ray Plourde of the Ecology Action Centre.
Plourde said 86 per cent of the coast of Nova Scotia is privately owned and only five per cent of the coastline is protected by the province and Ottawa.
“These guys are multi-billionaires. If they wish to build another golf course, we have no objection, provided that they stop trying to get our parks and protected areas, which are important pieces of public land.
“It’s unbelievably audacious of an American billionaire golf developer. These areas are special, they protect important ecosystems for now, for future generations for biodiversity, for public recreation, enjoyment and access.”
Plourde said the still not fully implemented parks and protected plan of 2013 was supposed to strengthen parks legislation to prevent this sort of thing from happening.
“Even without doing that, they (government) should still just say no and proceed to implement the commitments of the provincial government,” he said.
“The government needs to be just very firm on this.”
Read the full article here.