CBC Information Morning: Post-election Analysis featuring Owls Head

Information Morning
CBC Radio
August 20, 2021

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“And then there was Owls Head. I drove around the province quite a bit during the campaign period and I saw Owls Head signs in Louisburg, I saw them on the South Shore; they’re everywhere. A lot of people connected with the Owls Head issue and it wasn’t just about that piece of land on the Eastern Shore not being protected. I think it was a lot about the sense that the government had done something in secret, without telling people, with a piece of public land and made a deal to build a golf course. People didn’t like it and it was very hard for Iain Rankin, who was the Minister at the time that was done, to get past that. It came up in the debates and I think it sort of hung over him, it made it very difficult for him to establish goodwill when it came to some big environmental promises.”

… I think different circumstances on Owls Head, and maybe Iain Rankin could have got people to accept that [implementing the Lahey Report] was coming and trust that was coming. But it was another strike against him, I think.

Brian Flinn

Portia Clark: And do you think Owls Head is going to become a provincial park and not a golf course? Where will they decide on that?

Brian Flinn: I’ll be absolutely shocked if they don’t protect Owls Head. I think the message has been loud and clear. Tim Houston spoke out against it during the campaign. I think it’s a very easy way to distinguish themselves from the government that they’re replacing. I think Tim Houston will want to be there with a pair of scissors and a ribbon pretty soon.

CBC Information Morning

Related Reading

PC Press Release: Owls Head shows Rankin Liberals can’t be trusted on environment

Statements from the Green, NDP, and PC Partes/Candidates