Nicole Munro
The Chronicle Herald
June 28, 2020
HALIFAX, N.S. — Starting Monday, an environmental lawyer will make his case to a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge to allow for a judicial review of the delisting of Owls Head Provincial Park and its negotiated sale to a private golf course developer.
But the two-day hearing is only the start to ensuring Nova Scotia’s Department of Lands and Forestry is open and transparent about all of its provincial parks, whether they’re officially designated or pending approval, Jamie Simpson said.
… While the judicial review, if granted, would focus on the 285-hectare area of coastal barrens and wetlands on the Eastern Shore, Simpson said it would also be relevant for other provincial parks.
Of the 206 provincial parks in Nova Scotia, 102 are awaiting official designation.
“So roughly half of what we think of as Nova Scotia’s provincial parks, such as Herring Cove Provincial Park Reserve, turns out are not technically a provincial park and the exact same state that befell Owls Head could potentially happen … and we have no assurance that the department would let the public know that a sale was pending for it,” Simpson said.
