Majority of Nova Scotians against private developments on protected land: Poll

A survey of Nova Scotians shows the vast majority of people are against the government allowing development on land that is protected.

Created for the environmental organization, Ecology Action Centre, by Narrative Research, it shows that four of out five respondents — 78 per cent — do not agree with the idea of the government allowing private developments on parkland.

Some of the developments noted include golf courses, hotels and spas.

Three in five are “completely opposed” to the idea, compared to four per cent who say they are in support.

The poll stems from comments made last year by the premier and his then Natural Resources Minister, Kim Marsland, who said that the government is open to private development proposals on protected land, the press release from Ecology Action Centre reads.

The minister said at the time that a responsible government is one that’s open to having conversations about a range of potential development proposals — including ones on protected land.

“As a minister, from the very beginning, (I) have been open to conversations with Nova Scotians. And we look at each proposal case by case. Just because you listen to someone, doesn’t mean you agree with them,” Masland said after a cabinet meeting.

Asked whether land can really be considered protected if government is open to hearing out development proposals, Masland said “absolutely.”

“It’s protected, but we can still have conversations. It doesn’t mean that it’s going to change the (protected) designation, but you can still have a conversation.”

The eco-organization says the poll shows clearly that Nova Scotians don’t agree with the minister’s comments.

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“It’s clear from these results that Nova Scotians are still overwhelmingly opposed to sacrificing our legally protected parks and protected areas for private developments like golf courses and hotels,” Lindsay Lee, Wilderness Community Outreach Coordinator with the EAC, said in the release. “We hope this will serve as a notice to the Houston government that Nova Scotians will not tolerate seeing three decades of critically important nature conservation undermined or undone.”

Cabot, a Toronto-based company that develops golf courses around the world, has tried three times to build on Cape Breton’s West Mabou Beach. Premier Tim Houston has said last fall Cabot’s pitch to build in the park was unreasonable and not in the best interests of Nova Scotians.

“At first, we were so relieved when the government rejected Cabot Golf’s proposal last fall. But to hear a few days later that the provincial government was willing to put other communities through what our community has been through—it’s unthinkable,” Nadine Hunt, a community organization, said. “To target our parks and throw our communities into chaos, over and over again, when private businesses could simply purchase and develop on private land instead? We just can’t understand why any government would be willing to jeopardize these special places when the vast majority of Nova Scotians don’t want this.”

The government committed in 2021 to protect 20 per cent of Nova Scotia’s land and water by 2030, and as of July 2024, the province said that 13.6 per cent of Nova Scotia was protected.

With files from Lyndsay Armstrong, The Canadian Press