My family and I are active people. We enjoy walking trails and great beaches.
Having grown up in Port Hood, I am a fan of our local beaches, including the beach at West Mabou. From where I sit, I can’t see any negatives with respect to Cabot Golf building a course in West Mabou.
Access will not be an issue and the beach will remain as it always has. In fact, the entrance they are proposing for the new course is nowhere near the entrance to the beach. Cabot is not even asking to lease that section of the park. As for trails, there will still be over 330 acres to enjoy walking on. The key from my perspective is balance.
I strongly support Cabot in their application for a new course at West Mabou. First of all, the economics makes sense. Inverness County needs jobs and investment in order to ensure current and future generations have more opportunity to live, work, and raise their families. The county needs to grow in order to protect and keep its schools, hospital services, local arenas, etc.
A Cabot course in West Mabou will attract people, investment, and bring (and keep) young families in the area. It happened in Inverness and it can happen in the Mabou/Port Hood/Judique areas.
The reality is if we do not move forward with new initiatives like this, our communities will look very different in the next decade. David MacLean’s letter last week) was, as they say, spot on. He stated, “When I started my business, I began with a crew of six employees. Today, I’m proud to directly employ almost 70 people. A lot of this growth can be directly attributed to Cabot.” He added, “The growth triggered by Cabot in Inverness has resulted in significant growth in the wider community.”
He then stated that whether unionized or not, his employees receive “union” wages.
These same words could be echoed by many others in Inverness County who see the benefits Cabot courses make. They are world class and have far reaching impacts in every way. David MacLean understands the local area and our people. As the owner of a grassroots Inverness County business he knows what he is talking about. If he says it, that is good enough for me.
Our elected officials (premier, MLAs, the Port Hood/Mabou council member, warden, deputy warden, and other council members, etc.) should be listening to what he has to say because it is good old fashion common sense.
The people are depending on elected officials to make the right decision even though it might not be the easy one. That is why the people put them there. This is about saving local communities and, each of them, have a responsibility to do the right thing.
I, for one, am hopeful that the Province of Nova Scotia will grant Cabot’s lease.
Brad MacDonald
Halifax Regional Municipality