Many thanks to filmmaker Jerry Lockett for this interview with Chris Trider, one of the leaders of the Save Owls Head movement. Christopher Trider worked for the Department of Natural Resources (now DNRR) for 21 years. As a provincial park planner, Christopher specialized in acquiring and protecting coastal properties. He Read more…
On April 1, the government of Nova Scotia will be arguing in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in favour of its secret deal to remove Owls Head from the protected areas plan and sell the 700-acre public park to a private development company.
They are essentially fighting the public interest in favour of the American developer. It’s not a pretty picture, is it? A government forcing its citizens to fundraise and go to court to seek fairness, truth and transparency.
Ironically, the taxpayers are also paying the developer’s costs since the government has chosen to argue on his behalf. The government lawyers are paid by all the taxpaying public, not just the few who stand to profit privately from this development.
(more…)If you have a few seconds, read what the Nova Scotia Government tells the world on its official website about protected areas like Owls Head Provincial Park, site #694.
You will note at no point do they say ” we will secretly negotiate to remove selected protected areas in the plan when approached by lobbyists for wealthy American developers who feel they need golf courses instead of important ecological areas. “At no point do they say, ” we will lie about the history of any protected area we select, and sanitize our websites of any record of it to facilitate its sale for the profit and enjoyment of the few.”
On April 1, the government of Nova Scotia — Premier Rankin’s government — will be arguing against the people of the province in favour of a secret deal to sell the 700-acre public park at Owls Head to a private development company. They are essentially fighting the public interest in Read more…
Here’s another gem from the government website on Our Parks and Protected Areas Plan:
Our parks and protected areas contribute to our economy by:
So now, on April 1, we have to go to Court and fight the government, Premier Rankin’s government, to protect the public interest in the significant, large, coastal protected area referred to as Owls Head Provincial Park.
(more…)
Bob Rosborough’s Feb. 20 opinion piece, “Sick of critics taking swings at golf development,” leaves out a number of significant aspects of the current debate on Owls Head. These aspects are important to understanding the widespread and growing public opposition to the secret removal of the property, referred to as Owls Head Provincial Park, from the Parks and Protected Areas Plan, and offering it for sale to a private developer.
Owls Head has a long history of protection that can be traced back to the intense public discussions of the mid-1970s around the creation of a potential national park on the Eastern Shore. The large, unique coastal Crown block survived that process as a natural environment park component in the Eastern Shore Seaside Park System. It was recognized as a park by public agencies for 45 years and was included in the final 2013 plan that identified the sites to be designated for protection to meet the province’s 13 per cent target as site #694.
Christopher Trider, Former Park Planner
“After a rather exhaustive, multi-year program to create the Parks and Protected Areas Plan, it [Owls Head] was included as site #694. And it is listed in that plan as a “provincial park.” “
June 30, 2020 It bears repeating at this point that the struggle to stop the secret sale and protect Owls Head Provincial Park has never been just about Owls Head. It has never been about preventing local economic development , and never about just preventing golf courses. It is about Read more…