Jim Vibert
The Chronicle Herald
October 2, 2020
As galling as the government’s bluster and bluff about protecting nature can be, more galling yet is the fact that much of the heavy lifting was done before they arrived in office. All they had to do was take credit for the work of previous governments, but when it comes to protecting nature they can’t, or won’t, even do that.
In 2013, the Liberals were elected after pledging to protect, at a minimum, 13 per cent of the province’s land for nature. Seven years on, and they still haven’t achieved that very modest target.
This, too, is dereliction of duty, because Nova Scotia’s parks and protected areas plan was complete — following years of consultation and consideration — when the Liberal government arrived.
All they had to do was designate those places as parks and protected areas and — Bob’s your uncle — they’d achieve their promised 13 per cent.
Instead, they chipped away at the plan, protecting a few places on the list every now and again and issuing a self-congratulatory news release like Jack Horner with a plum on his thumb.
Meanwhile, when there was a sniff of lucre in the air, these same Liberals surreptitiously delisted the designated park at Owl’s Head to make way for a golf course development.