In the week before Christmas, many Nova Scotians were filled with uncertainty and dread in the lead-up to premier Stephen McNeil’s Boat Harbour decision, but Daniel Paul wasn’t one of them. The 81-year-old Mi’kmaq elder and author says he wasn’t surprised when the premier, despite pleas from mill executives and forestry workers, said he would […]
Forestry
Posted inNews + Opinion
Want to reduce clearcutting? Clear out Natural Resources
If the province wants to reduce clearcutting on Crown lands, first it needs to clean house over at the Department of Natural Resources. So says Raymond Plourde, wilderness coordinator for the Ecology Action Centre, who believes the current departmental leadership has lost the public’s trust. “It’s largely because of their single-minded focus on giving the […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Everything wrong with Nova Scotia’s forestry review
Raymond Plourde is trying to be optimistic about the province’s new forestry review, but it’s a struggle. At best, says the Ecology Action Centre’s wilderness coordinator, the report is a mixed bag. The overarching idea to prioritize forest protection is laudable. But there are still some glaring omissions and dangerous proposals in the long-awaited document. […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
SCIENCE MATTERS: Caribou science denial cripples conservation efforts
To its credit, the Forest Products Association of Canada recognizes climate change is a serious threat to forests and habitat, and has vowed the sector it represents “is doing its part to fight climate change through work in our forests, at our mills and through the products we make.” But it appears the association has […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
A very expensive welcome mat
In 1964, when he presented the mill as a “very pleasant” Christmas gift to the province, [Premier] Stanfield neglected to mention what the province was giving Scott for Christmas. As part of the deal, enshrined in the Scott Maritimes Limited Agreement Act of 1965, was the offer from the province to Scott of 230,000 acres […]