Our Premier supposedly represents all Nova Scotians, so when he talks about “quality of life” and “sustainability” we assume he means for all citizens, not just the wealthy few. So I am struggling with his government’s determination to proceed with the sale of the park lands at Owls Head to a rich developer who intends to build golf courses on ecologically significant public lands that have been protected for over 45 years. To turn these natural coastal heathlands with their fragile duff soils and a globally rare plant community into fairways, greens and tees that are artificially maintained with high nitrogen fertilizers and pesticides that kill any invasive weed species is the complete opposite of sustainability.
To cherry pick a large coastal park property in secrecy from the Our Parks and Protected Areas Plan and offer to sell it at a ridiculously low price to the private development company so they can destroy it for profit is a far, far cry from any commitment to the quality of life of this Province .
Owls Head Provincial Park is a large, undisturbed, unique and important public resource. It is integral to the Eastern Shore Islands Wilderness Area and the 100 Wild Islands Project. It is a natural Environment Park component of the Eastern Shore Seaside Park System. The bureaucratic laziness and failure to complete its formal designation many years ago does not change its ecological significance or its importance to our protected areas system. This government’s cynical attempts to exploit that loophole and lie about its history so they can sell it to their friends is contemptible .
“Quality of life and sustainability,” are they just empty words in a political election scheme or does he really mean what he says?
The answer will come from Owls Head.
