Come clean on golf course decision
The Progressive Conservative government's executive council needs to come clean and explain why it recently denied the sale of Glen Afton Golf Course.
On Sept. 3, executive council (or cabinet) denied permission to a company – Afton Holdings Inc. – to purchase the 150-acre golf course in Nine Mile Creek.
These decisions are held behind closed doors, so the public and the golf course’s current owner Merina Currie are in the dark about the reasons for rejecting the sale.
The Guardian reached out and asked the Department of Agriculture and Land why the sale was denied. No response was given.
So, now we’re left to speculate about why this proposed sale under the Lands Protection Act was denied. One possibility is that it was denied because one of the directors of Afton Holdings — Corey Falls. Falls has a criminal record related to illegal gambling and uttering threats. He has had ties to the Hells Angels and was listed as the president of a company that owned the gang’s Fitzroy Street clubhouse in Charlottetown.
The P.E.I. RCMP keeps a close eye on the Hells Angels, and they no longer believe Falls is an active member of the gang.
Cabinet can clear up this whole mess by answering a basic question: why was the sale denied? It’s fair to point out that the previous Liberal government and executive cabinet also denied a prior attempt by these parties to buy the golf course.
By not answering this basic question, several other questions arise. Does being a former gang member disqualify someone from owning a golf course? What about having a prior criminal record? Are these even relevant factors? In fact, we don’t know what the criteria is for accepting or rejecting a private sale.
If this was a normal transaction between a buyer and a seller, these wouldn’t be relevant factors. But because of the size of the land, cabinet gets to decide if the sale goes through. We’re also left wondering if cabinet followed a recommendation from the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission.
This guessing game isn’t good for anyone, especially the governing PC party. There is a chance to come clean, but so far, cabinet wants to keep the reasons behind the decision secret.
Cabinet confidentiality will be cited as a reason for keeping quiet. But as we saw with the attempt last year by three Irving family members to purchase 2,200 acres of farm land, then Liberal cabinet minister Richard Brown had no problem breaking that confidentiality and telling the media why the deal was rejected.
What the government doesn’t get is that we have a right to know why it makes the decisions it makes. This current practice of closed-door decisions needs to change, and cabinet needs to be transparent on these matters all the time.
We need to know why this sale was denied in order to make sure executive cabinet isn’t abusing its power. As it stands now, we don’t know, and equally problematic, neither does Currie. That isn’t good enough.