Q104
Dougal Angus
January 16, 2020
(more…)“When the government first wanted to list it as a protected area, it was described as a unique coastal habitat and home to a number of species of environmental concern.”
Dougal Angus
I am reluctantly re-emerging from a prolonged holiday break from social media. I know I’m not alone… January is now hitting with force and fury and a full calendar.
I’m past due to comment on the Owl’s Head story that began emerging on Dec. 18. That afternoon, I was on my way to a true pre-Christmas break – in a small off-grid cabin at Windhorse Farm – when I heard on CBC radio that the Nova Scotia Liberal cabinet had quietly removed Owl’s Head Provincial Park – as it’s been known since the 1980s – from a list of crown land parcels waiting permanent designation and protection as protected areas. (more…)
Posted by Richard Bell
January 15, 2020, 11:50 AM
Eastern Shore Cooperator
Gary Burrill, head of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party, told the Cooperator in a phone interview that the NDP intended to challenge the province’s decision to delist Owls Head Provincial Park and sell the land to a golf-course developer, particularly the use of secrecy.
Burrill also dismissed the province’s defense that the land had never actually been protected. “The public in general had a reasonable understanding that these were lands held by province in some kind of special category,” Burrilll said. “ Rankin decided to make a change, from whatever category the land was really in, a change he made without the kind of consultation, of discussion, of sharing information, that a decision of this magnitude always calls for.”
(more…)Posted by Richard Bell
January 14, 2020, 3:36 PM
Eastern Shore Cooperator
In a January 3 2020 email to the Cooperator, MLA Kevin Murphy said that he first heard about the golf courses about two years, and that he had had two phone calls from the golf course lobbyist, Michael Samson. He wrote that he had not talked about the project with any other lobbyists, nor had he discussed the project with anyone from the Owls Head community (within 50 miles of Owls Head.)
(more…)Posted by Richard Bell
January 14, 2020 3:25 PM
Eastern Shore Cooperator
The revelation that the province’s Department of Lands and Forests has been secretly planning to sell Crown land on Owls Head to a wealthy American couple who own Lighthouse Links Development Company to build as many as three golf courses has stunned Nova Scotians.
For more than four decades, members of the public had every reason to assume that Owls Head would eventually become a fully protected provincial park. As late as the week of January 6th, a Department of the Environment online map of protected areas showed the area as “Owls Head Provincial Park” as late as January.
(more…)Full Article Here> Posted by Richard BellJanuary 14, 2020, 3:07 PMEastern Shore Cooperator The Cooperator spoke with MP Sean Fraser about the provincial decision to make Owls Head available for sale. Fraser was just returning to his political duties after stepping back to deal with the tragic loss of his infant daughter. Fraser Read more…
Posted by Richard Bell
January 14, 2020 3:01 PM
Eastern Shore Cooperator
In a phone interview with the Cooperator, Brad Johns, Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative Party critic for the environment, was blunt about the province’s decision to delist Owls Head Provincial Park and sell the land to a golf-course developer: “The fix is already in.”
Johns said that his party supported exploring opportunities for economic development, but that the time for public consultation was before making a decision, not after. “What they’ve done is put the cart before the horse here.”
(more…)
Tim Bousquet
Halifax Examiner
January 13, 2020
Last year the government quietly removed Owls Head provincial park in Little Harbour from the province’s pending protected status list. The move was made so negotiations could begin with Lighthouse Links Development Co., which hopes to acquire the 285 hectares of coastal headland, add it to land it already owns, and build up to three golf courses.
(more…)