‘We should be grateful’
For those of us who grew up in the area, we are only too aware of the organizational skills and commitment put forward by the community of Big Pond over the years whether it be the annual Big Pond Concert for some fifty years and the Saturday night dances at the fire hall and parish hall, that attracted young and old from St. Peters to Sydney and beyond.
All combined with a vibrant influx of summer residents, there was much youth and I hasten to say, little in the way of tranquility and it would take more than a few loons on the lake to be heard over the noise created during any one of those events.
Alas, with the exception of the fire hall, that is all gone now due to the obvious lack of our most precious resource and export, our children. This is, of course, a problem not unique to the community of Big Pond and indeed affects all communities around the island but until such time as we realise and accept the fact development of any kind that is of course regulated and managed accordingly is necessary and must be considered if we expect to maintain this way of life.
Were any of these concerns brought forward when the Ben Eoin Marina was being constructed? The facility that was built to support marine traffic, the transfer of fuel (diesel & gas) and pump out, and it was completed with all the required approvals and permits in place.
Concerns of such things as water aquifers and sewage treatment or disposal are indeed well founded and should be addressed but not just for new development and be compliant with that of a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
To suggest this project would be lining the pockets of a private company from another province boggles the mind. We should be grateful someone has the ambition to consider it. Where are most of us and our children making their living these days and have been for many years but in that “other province” that isn’t afraid to endorse development in their backyard. If our neighbours, brothers and sisters on the north side of the lake in Eskasoni, (who by the way have endorsed this project ) or further west to Potlotek, have the desire and are provided the wherewithal and support of our political leaders to get it done, it will be done. And good luck stopping that one.
Cecil Currie
At the end of the lake East Bay