After divorcing Ben Eoin Golf Club (Golf) should the Cape Breton Ski Club (Ski) marry up with Ben Eoin Development (Development), or stay single? 

The Ben Eoin Saga between Ski and Golf reminds me of a story a friend tells about the rural Cape Breton community his family is from, when he stated, “Back in the day if a guy a had a choice between marrying his second cousin or a Protestant, he knew what he had to do.”

Before Ski decides its future with The Lakes Golf, maybe it needs the guidance of a good divorce lawyer. Although most would argue it is a corporate law or landlord/tenant legal battle, it appears to this writer that Ski needs a tough divorce lawyer that has the best skill-set to handle this mess.

The prenuptial agreement (Lease) has proven to be in majority one-sided in favor of Golf. It appears Golf does not want to pay the spousal support or child support per se it had agreed to under the prenuptial (Lease). It was stated in the summer court battle that the independent legal advisor that advised Ski on the Lease was a golf unit-holder that later represented Golf in a court case against Ski, then dropped Golf for Development. Locally, the gene pool of Cape Breton lawyers is not too deep, and so it's tough for Ski to find a corporate lawyer that has not been involved in the Ben Eoin Saga. Thus, more thoughts on the merits of a good divorce lawyer.

What kind of a lease allows a tenant to full use of a property for 7 months of the year and not have to pay rent and agreed upon expenses? Although Golf is not using the ski lodge since relocating, under the present terms of the lease, Ski would have to gain permission from Golf to use its own premises from May to October. Ski needs to develop new streams of revenue to sustain its winter operation, and now they can only do it with elimination of the Ski/Golf lease.

Maybe Golf’s arms are too short to reach down far enough into their promoted Development deep pockets to maintain a full 18-hole golf course. How many holes will be lost with the loss of the lease? It would be interesting to see a survey map of the ski hill with a transparency map on top to show how much of the golf course is on Ski land. How green with the “Greens” be without the Ski-owned water supply?

For those of you that think the shares of Golf have been purchased by Development, that deal has yet to close. According to the Joint Stocks of Nova Scotia website, the list of present officers of Ben Eoin Golf Club are: President Colleen Moore-Hayes, Vice President Vince Mac Gillivary, Treasurer Jerry Redmond, Secretary Denise Gallant, and directors: Jim Burke, David MacLean, Ron Mac Donald, Jeffery Power, Manning Mac Donald, Greg Robertson, and Bernadette Romeo. Next time you see one of them on the street ask them why Ski has not been paid, and don’t accept that they are not in charge, as the board of directors of any corporation are in charge. Loss of the lease does not wipe out the debt owed by Golf to Ski.

Ski cannot allow Golf’s mismanagement history to destroy Ski’s 50 plus years of providing skiing/snowboarding at a reasonable cost for the community. Maybe Development would like to acquire the Ski property, like it promised Golf, for pennies on the dollar, but that is not to the advantage of the community. Improved cash flow will sustain most enterprises, and Ski must get its property back from May to October.

Golf should not have let its short-term greed to get in the way of its long-term greed.

Scott MacLean, Cape Breton Ski Club member