Articles

RICHARD BELL: They Do It Because They Can

In this issue, we are confronting a single problem that corrupts the politics of the province: our Liberal government’s insidious, systematic refusal to allow the citizens of Nova Scotia to participate in making major government policy decisions. 

The issue at stake here, the tension between any government’s power and that government’s responsibilities to its citizens, is not a new one. In the first flowering of democracy in Greece, the Athenians wrestled with this problem. History shows us time and again how easily governments can con their subjects with “bright shiny objects” like promises of golf courses or long-delayed schools, today’s equivalent of the Romans’ bread and circuses.  

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By Save Owls Head, ago

BOB ROSBOROUGH: Eastern Shore sick of critics taking swings at Owls Head golf development

So, for a bunch of ranting social media followers — speared on by several whose questionable, unsuccessful past employment within government agencies and/or parasitic commercial endeavours on government support agencies with axes to grind against Nova Scotia — to zero in on the Eastern Shore and this substantial and critically important project is deceptive and morally corrupt.

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By Save Owls Head, ago

Not the Place for a Golf Resort

Dale Dunlop
The Maritime Explorer
February 19, 2021

Full Article Here>

Why then the need for yet one more post on Owls Head? Perhaps naively, I believe I do bring a slightly different perspective to the matter. As a lawyer, I can comment on the case currently before the courts, particularly as one who has faced off with the Department of Justice many times over the past forty-five years. As a concerned environmentalist who has visited every provincial park in Nova Scotia and almost all the Wilderness Areas as well, I can comment on what makes Owls Head different from all these other places. Finally, as far as I know, I will be the only golf journalist who has offered an opinion on whether or not Owls Head would make for a good location to build a golf resort. I love the game of golf and am almost in awe of how quickly Nova Scotia has rocketed to the top of the must play places in the world with the success of the Cabot Links courses in Inverness. I have written many posts on Nova Scotia golf courses including this one describing why Cabot Cliffs is the #1 course in Canada. If not for the success of Cabot Links, I do not believe this matter would ever have arisen in the first place.

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By Save Owls Head, ago

EDITORIAL: New Nova Scotia premier-to-be Iain Rankin faces headwinds

Most prominently, Rankin put green policies, and growing a green economy, at the centre of his platform, including taking an even more aggressive approach than Stephen McNeil on tackling climate change.

Rankin would like the province to be off coal entirely, while generating 80 per cent of power with renewable energy, by 2030. He hopes to make Nova Scotia the first province to be net carbon-neutral.

…Observers will be closely watching what he does regarding the controversial proposal for a golf course at Owls Head.

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By Save Owls Head, ago

Group urges Rankin to revisit Owls Head property sale decision

“We are hoping that once Iain Rankin is sworn in as premier, he will reverse his decision on the sale of Owls Head Provincial Park,” said Sydnee McKay, who now lives in Gaetz Brook, 40 kilometres west of Little Harbour, where she grew up next to Owls Head on the Eastern Shore.

“His (Rankin’s) motto is listen, learn and lead so we are hoping he will listen to the thousands of Nova Scotians and the scientific data about the ecological values of the park and put it back on the Parks and Protected Areas Plan with a full designation as a provincial park,” said McKay, whose 89-year-old mother still lives near Owls Head, along with her brothers, aunts and uncles.

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By Save Owls Head, ago

Jim Vibert: Rankin brings ambitious plan to build back better

Protecting parks

Rankin has early opportunities, particularly on environmental files, to burnish his bona fides.

He’s committed to protecting the 100-plus places in the Parks and Protected Areas plan that have yet to be designated for protection. Early action to move those sites along in the process would help cement his environmental credentials.

And, if he includes the controversial Owl’s Head land, which the McNeil government surreptitiously removed from the list to make way for a proposed golf resort, among the areas for protection, he’ll send a loud message that when he balances potential economic activity and the environment, the environment stands a fighting chance. That hasn’t been common in these parts.

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By Save Owls Head, ago

JIM VIBERT: Finally, Nova Scotia hits land protection landmark, barely

All the sites in the Parks and Protected Areas plan – including the 20 announced this week – got there after extensive consultation, so the places in question have already cleared that hurdle once.

Plus, most folks living near those sites will likely be surprised to learn that they aren’t already protected, just as folks on the Eastern Shore were shocked to learn that Owl’s Head provincial park wasn’t a park at all, but prime real estate for a golf resort.

The Liberal government surreptitiously removed Owl’s Head from the Parks and Protected Areas list a couple of years back to clear the way for a golf development, unleashing a firestorm of protest that still rages on.

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By Save Owls Head, ago