The MLA for Queens-Shelburne wants the province to pause before giving access to Crown land to a consortium of lumber mills.
Sterling Belliveau says government is handing over a parcel of land the size of Prince Edward Island to WestFor with little to no public input.
Belliveau is concerned the public isn’t fully aware how the 566,000 hectare parcel of land will be used.
The parcel is essentially all Crown lands west of Highway 102, a third of which contain the former Bowater lands government purchased in 2012.
Belliveau says the process needs to be more transparent.
“One of the fears that I have personally is that people are eliminated from access for recreational use across that land when you don’t have these public consultations – these questions certainly will come to the surface.”
The NDP government held consultations to develop the Natural Resources Strategy called “The Path We Share” in 2011.**
Belliveau says the Liberal government is moving in a different direction.
“To me it’s going back to the old ways where the government and large corporations sets the rules and the residents of Nova Scotia are sat on the sidelines and not involved in the discussions.”
Belliveau says the 10-year deal government is discussing with the WestFor consortium should be shelved until meaningful public consultation is held.
Meanwhile, Department of Natural Resources Minister Lloyd Hines says extensive public consultation took place in 2013.
“Mr. Belliveau was a member of the government who that led that consultation. It included nine public open houses and I believe there were three or four stakeholder sessions and there were hundreds of Nova Scotians involved in the western counties.”
Hines says an informal agreement has been in place with WestFor to access Crown lands since 2014.
He says according to the agreement, WestFor can only take roughly twenty percent of their harvest from Crown lands, the rest must be accounted from private sources.
Hines says he is concerned about representing everyone’s interests in the forest.
He says during the consultation process the main issue for residents was the jobs the industry brings to the region.
“We are very cognisant of the important jobs that depend on the forestry and a healthy forestry industry in that area and we want to make sure we’re protecting those jobs.”
Hines says a third of the lands are for recreation and wilderness protection purposes and would not be harvested.
** A previous version of this story read, “Belliveau led a consultation process to develop a forestry strategy in 2014 and says the Liberal government is moving in a different direction.” That statement was not factually correct and the story above has been edited to reflect the correct information. We apologize for any confusion.
