Max Caroll
The Chronicle Herald
May 7, 2021
Originally published here>
Owls Head. A pretty name for a provincial park. Not anymore, as it was delisted by Iain Rankin who was Land and Forestry Minister at the time. This was done without public notification or consultation in March 2019. It took a CBC reporter two years to discover this. Politics done this way always has a smell to it, completely opposite to an open and accountable government.
So, I ask myself, “who gains by this wily change of land use”? The Chronicle Herald’s May 3 story seems to answer that. Beckwith Gilbert, a wealthy American, has plans to build golf courses on Owls Head. Gilbert applied for the use of Crown Land on Sept. 23, 2016. Between 2003 and 2009, the Gilberts registered more than 20 properties in the area in their names. One has to wonder if those kinds of investments would have been made without prior knowledge that Owls Head would be delisted!
On April 1, the Nova Scotia Supreme Court heard an application for judicial review of Rankin’s 2019 decision to delist Owls Head from the parks and protected areas plan without public consultation.
When a government makes decisions improperly and someone will benefit, then throw the whole thing out as it is severely tainted.
Max Carroll, Halifax
