On October 31, 2025, recently appointed Minister of Natural Resources Kim Masland made a shocking declaration: She is “always open to discussion” about development in any protected area.

I fear that some outrageous Trump regime lawlessness may have found its way across the border.

I value my sanity, such as it is, and so I don't closely follow what Trump and his cohorts get up to. But I know the feeling I get when I read that American air traffic controllers are not getting paid because their government is shut down. Or that masked thugs under Trump are grabbing people off the streets of America and putting them in detention centers.

It is a feeling of profound unease, a flash of realization that something fundamental is wrong in that country and there is no evident way out.

I am not suggesting that Masland is a thug. (Or an air traffic controller.) 

But I am suggesting that she is, in a Trumpian way, casually telling Nova Scotians that all of the land that we know to be protected by law is no longer protected. 

And I got that feeling I described when I read that she is willing to change laws that protect vulnerable environments and our treasured provincial parks so that developers can have their way with the land. 

How can this be? 

The Provincial Parks Act is a law.

Provincial Parks Regulations are laws. 

The Special Places Protection Act is a law. 

The Wilderness Areas Protection Act is a law. 

The Nature Reserves Protection Act is a law.

The Trump regime has shown the world how this is done. 

You just ignore laws and conventions and do what you like. 

If a court stops you, try again. 

Sadly, Minister Masland has the worst possible motivation, in my view, for declaring that protected lands in Nova Scotia are only protected until a developer decides to elbow their way into a protected space. (It is developers that we are protecting the land from, ironically.)

An actual American billionaire, Mike Keiser, and his Ontarian sidekick Ben Cowan-Dewar, want to build a golf course in West Mabou Beach Provincial Park. Mike Keiser is "one of the most powerful people in golf."

If you think that he has donated to the Republican Party in America a few times, you would be correct. In fact, a donation to Wisconsin Republicans seems to have spurred the building of an airport so that wealthy golfers would find it easier to get to Keiser's Sand Valley Golf Resort. (Ben-Cowan Dewar is still chasing our tax dollars to build him an airport near Inverness.)

And lest we forget, Tim Houston came out swinging against American tariffs on Canadian goods. 

How does he reconcile his urging us to buy Canadian - he pulled American booze from NSLC shelves, after all - and then tell us that he wants to give an American billionaire West Mabou Beach Provincial Park?

I look forward to his efforts.

You will see many letters to the editors, posts like this one, petitions to be signed, signs to be stuck in lawns, about saving West Mabou Beach Provincial Park. I hope that we stand up for the people of Mabou who are profoundly connected to this land, for our provincial parks and other protected spaces, for our current efforts to support endangered and vulnerable species, for fairness in governing, for the Mi'kmaq who first protected this land, and basic decency as human beings. 

If you want our protected spaces to stay that way, and if you think that giving the American billionaire class West Mabou Beach Provincial Park would be an unspeakable act, please get involved in some way.

Join the movement here at Save West Mabou Beach Provincial Park ONCE AND FOR ALL. 

Give your MLA a call.

Tell Houston we've got a problem. (Can't stop myself.) 

Tell your family and friends what Minister Masland is up to. Ask them to email her. 

We have the power to save West Mabou Beach Provincial Park if we all speak for it.