Is a Memory Charm Behind Houston and Rushton's Cabot Golf Mania? | goCapeBreton.com

It has been five days since I published the post linked above.

So, did an unnamed representative of Cabot use a powerful memory charm to obliterate Premier Houston and Minister Rushton’s memory of assuring Nova Scotians, in 2023, that Cabot would not be allowed to build golf in West Mabou Beach Provincial Park?

It is unclear.

Houston and Rushton have not spoken again of the unidentified Cabot representatives who brought ideas about taking over West Mabou Beach Provincial Park to our government.

This is not to say that no one had anything to say in the last five days:

In the Cape Breton Post, political scientist and expert on public policy Tom Urbaniak, warned us that, “Nova Scotia’s democracy is seriously ailing.”

We are in a new reality, warns Urbaniak, where “local communities are special interests. By contrast, wealthy private developers are altruistic partners.”

Urbaniak points out that “developer Cabot, which is reportedly taking yet another run at a luxury golf course in a provincial park (Cape Breton’s West Mabou Beach) – thus far unsolicited and without a public process…can get more attention, behind closed doors, than elected MLAs or councillors can get in the open.”

How is it that unnamed representatives of Cabot Cape Breton have any standing to tell our elected government to give them our provincial park?

Our Parks and Protected Areas: A Plan for Nova Scotia is, as you might expect, our plan for the management of legally protected parks, like West Mabou Beach Provincial Park.

Nova Scotians contributed to “The Plan” as it is sometimes known:

It is self-evidently wrong that the current collaboration around the future of West Mabou Beach Provincial Park looks like this: