Letter: Tainted Decision

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.

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Letter: Against public interest

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.

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Editorial Cartoon by Bruce MacKinnon

Letter: Golf giveaway

Re: Bill Black’s March 20 column, “Give golf course bid at Owls Head fair shot.” Give them a “fair shot,” Bill? Right between Nova Scotians’ eyes, maybe! 

Mr. Black certainly has a way with numbers, but in his one-sided defence of the sale of Crown land, he neglects to mention the biggest number of all: the fact that at a time when real estate prices are rapidly rising, our government is doing its sneaky best to sell our Owls Head Provincial Park, without any consultation, to two wealthy Americans for a paltry C$326 an acre!

I can see it now on CNN Breaking News: “Nova Scotia’s dumb government is doing its utmost to sell its priceless waterfront parkland to Americans for only US$238 an acre.”

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Letter: Too foggy, buggy

If the public land is destroyed, do folks really believe that the golf course owners will let you wander down the fairways? Do they really believe that buyers will flock to purchase very high-end houses or stay in swanky hotels built around the “links”?

Picture this as you tee up, preparing to drive a long one down to the rocky cliff: The fog is so thick your caddie pulls out his GPS to show you where and how far to aim. After a few practice swings, you step up to the ball, take a deep breath, and after swallowing a dozen or more blackflies, you cough and spit up all you can as you try to steady yourself and catch your breath.

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Letter: Take Serious Step

In view of Premier Iain Rankin’s recent statement to Steve Murphy in CTV News interview that “I would not be for a project that would have long-term adverse impact to a sensitive ecosystem,” it is astonishing that under his direction Owls Head Provincial Park would have been delisted as a protected area and that development of golf courses on the property, surely causing the aforementioned “adverse impact to a sensitive ecosystem,” would have been approved. 

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Letter: Golf overkill

Re: “Secret Owls Head deal could haunt Rankin” (March 6 column by Jim Vibert). Nova Scotians need another golf course like a hole in the head! It appears we have approximately 65 golf courses in our province and one would think that would be enough, given our small land mass and population.

The people of Nova Scotia own Owls Head Provincial Park and we all have a stake in what happens to our Crown lands! I am extremely disappointed that Premier Iain Rankin, as former Minister of Lands and Forestry, delisted and planned to sell our asset without consultation with Nova Scotians. So much for transparency! Is this going to be his modus operandi?

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