Letters to the Editor

Letter: Steeped in Secrecy by Beverlee Brown

When did “secrecy” become the provincial byword for the governing Liberals? 

There is a review of Northwood and its recent COVID-19 problems going on, but we’ve been told the results will be mostly kept secret. Confidentiality is needed in order to protect those named in the review. Wouldn’t it be easier just to not publish their names? 

And then there’s Owls Head and the delisting of that area as a reserve in order to quietly sell that land for a golf course. That’s not the premier’s land to sell, especially by changing the rules behind the scenes. It belongs to the province and therefore to the citizens. There should have been a transparent process. If the deal is a good one for Nova Scotia, then secrecy wouldn’t have been needed; a public meeting on the proposal should have been the way to go, allowing full knowledge of the province’s intentions.

(more…)
By Save Owls Head, ago
Nina Newington at Rally, photo Peter Barss

Letter: No Respect by Peter Barss

This province wholeheartedly endorses open-pen fish farming that contaminates our bays with chemicals and fecal waste. It is engaged in a deal to sell off Crown land at Owls Head so a rich American can build three golf courses. It sees no problem with waterways polluted by gold mining. And it clearcuts large tracts of forest, including old growth stands.

Bob Bancroft, the Federation of Nova Scotia Naturalists and the Blomidon Naturalists Society had to spend the money and time to win a recent court case (“Nova Scotia broke endangered species law, judge rules,” May 30) that forces the province to obey its own laws designed to protect endangered species.

(more…)
By Save Owls Head, ago

Letter: Nova Scotians Gradually Losing Access to Shores and Beaches

Picture this.

The ocean breeze is blowing through your hair. Imagine the feel of sand underneath your feet as you listen to the waves lapping against the beach. Think back to days spent sailing in the bay or walking along a rocky shore. You are building sandcastles, watching the fishing boats, looking for sea glass, or collecting shells.

Can you imagine life in Nova Scotia without these things?

No, neither can I.

When we open our eyes, we see that more and more of us are losing access to our shores, as land that the public has enjoyed for generations is being sold to the highest bidder.

(more…)
By Lindsay Lee, ago
"There is No Planet B" - Photo by David Sorcher

Letter: Owls Head rally tally lowballed by Ian Guppy

Re: Your Feb. 21 front-page news story on protesters rallying to save Owls Head park. It is good to see this important issue of our government’s secret delisting and removal of Owls Head Provincial Park from Nova Scotia’s Parks and Protected Areas Plan receive the coverage it deserves. However, ironically, this is undermined by an inaccurate account of the number of participants at the rally. I attended and would estimate, based on that experience and counting people in post-event photos, that the crowd was easily twice the size than what was reported.

(more…)
By Save Owls Head, ago

Letter: Too Busy Reacting by Karen Schlick

Re: the Feb. 1 opinion piece,  “Conservationists have missed the boat on ecotourism.” The headline should have read: “Developers and governments are missing the boat on ecotourism.”

Conservationists are generally busy running around putting out fires: proposals like salmon farms and golf courses in inappropriate places, gold mines that ignore watershed issues, rampant clearcutting and expropriation of Commons land. 

Where are the conservationists out there with time on their hands and money to burn? Personally, I don’t know any of them.

Karen Schlick, Musquodoboit Harbour

(more…)
By Save Owls Head, ago

Letter: Owls Head(ache) Provincial Park by Dusan Soudek

If you think the provincial cabinet’s secret decision to remove Owls Head Provincial Park reserve (or an “undesignated” provincial park in government-speak) from a list of public properties slated for permanent protection is of interest only to a few Eastern Shore locals, think again.

Many other provincial parks in HRM, and elsewhere in Nova Scotia, are “undesignated” under the Provincial Parks Act and hence enjoy only administrative protection—not legal protection. On the Eastern Shore, they include Paces Lake Provincial Park, Lower East Chezzetcook Provincial Park, Liscomb Point Provincial Park, and others farther east. Closer to home, they include the immensely popular McCormacks Beach Provincial Park in Eastern Passage and Herring Cove Provincial Park and Blind Bay Provincial Park outside Halifax.

(more…)
By Save Owls Head, ago