Nova ScotiaProgressive Conservative MLAs used their majority on a legislative committee to vote down an opposition motion to recommend the government not remove, downgrade or alter the protected status of any designated coastal protected area in Nova Scotia.Liberals wanted natural resources committee to recommend government not alter any protected designationsMichael Gorman · CBC News · Posted: Oct 28, 2025 4:57 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesFormer natural resources minister Tory Rushton confirmed earlier this month that officials behind the Cabot golf courses are again pursuing a proposal that would require a Crown land lease to develop a golf course that would include part of West Mabou Beach Provincial Park. (Kyle Moore/CBC)Progressive Conservative MLAs used their majority on a legislative committee to vote down an opposition motion to recommend the government not remove, downgrade or alter the protected status of any designated coastal protected area in Nova Scotia.Liberal MLA Iain Rankin made the motion Tuesday during a meeting of the natural resources and economic development committee.Rankin said the motion was the result of concerns about the government’s efforts to meet its own legislated targets to protect land and water mass in the province, along with renewed talk about a potential golf course development that would include land within the boundaries of West Mabou Beach Provincial Park.The PCs passed legislation during their first mandate requiring that 15 per cent of the province’s land and water mass be protected by March 2026 and that 20 per cent be protected by 2030. The committee heard Tuesday that to date, 13.75 per cent of the province is protected.“I don’t think they ever realistically knew if they were going to be able to reach [the targets],” Rankin told reporters after the meeting. N.S. must consider ‘new context’ when protecting land, water: environment minister Golf course developer tees up another bid for West Mabou Crown landNDP MLA Lisa Lachance also questioned during the meeting the government’s ability to meet the targets.“I also think West Mabou is of huge concern,” Lachance said.“It’s a provincial park and I think we think when there’s a provincial park that that’s land that has been protected.”Tory Rushton, the former natural resources minister, confirmed earlier this month that officials behind the Cabot golf courses are again pursuing a proposal that would require a Crown land lease to develop a golf course that would include part of West Mabou Beach Provincial Park.Cabot has subsequently created a website dedicated to the effort.Govt committed to land protection and job creationPrevious overtures by the company went nowhere, in part because it was determined a golf course is not a permitted use within the park. Premier Tim Houston has previously said he thinks any protected property should remain that way “unless a court directs otherwise.”More recently, however, Environment Minister Tim Halman has said land protection must be balanced with economic development efforts.Rankin’s motion was defeated by the PC majority on the committee, which included Inverness MLA Kyle MacQuarrie (whose district includes West Mabou Beach), Annapolis MLA David Bowlby, committee chair Tom Taggart, Kings South MLA Julie Vanexan and Waverley-Fall River-Beaver Bank MLA Brian Wong.Wong called Rankin’s motion “rich,” given the history he and his former government had around a proposed golf course development in Owls Head. While that land did not have formal protected status at the time as West Mabou does now, the PCs added it after they formed government in 2021.Wong said the government is committed to protecting biodiversity and meeting its conservation goals, while not shutting the door on “opportunities for good jobs and employment in all of our communities right around Nova Scotia.”MORE TOP STORIESABOUT THE AUTHORMichael Gorman covers the Nova Scotia legislature for CBC, with additional focuses on health care and rural communities. Contact him with story ideas at michael.gorman@cbc.ca
Government MLAs defeat motion focused on preserving protected areas
