A place for community, fun, and recreation!

August 20, 2025

Inverness Oran, Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor, 

    The development of recreational infrastructure in our county is not a winner-takes-all competitive sport, where a few communities win, and the other communities are left without. Unfortunately, this is exactly what is taking place in Inverness County.

    The story began with messaging from the county that Inverness will get a pickle ball court at no expense to taxpayers. At the same time, the Inverness County Physical Activity and Recreation Master Plan, although completed in 2023, is still unreleased by the county. This allows the Inverness County Multi-Use Recreation Courts to do an “end-run” towards construction, without any apparent public input on cost, design, location, and tendering. 

    The budget is now over $5 million, and could be as much as $6 million, with the county’s contribution at least $3 million, or 10 per cent of its budget this year. All this is happening while CAO Keith MacDonald, Warden Bonny MacIsaac, and other councillors have insisted that the county has only enough funds for sewer and water, and garbage. 

    The real garbage is how the public has been kept in the dark about the planning of the ball courts in Inverness. The Inverness County Multi-Use Recreation Courts have a huge price tag, which tells us that other communities will not get new ball courts, and residents in other communities should drive long distances to play ball in Inverness. The same budget could have built low-cost courts in five or six communities.

    Three years ago, our group, the Margaree Environmental Association (MEA), completed a provincially-funded aquatic centre feasibility study. Cape Breton University did a public opinion survey, and so did the county, which showed that an aquatic centre was the top choice of residents. The MEA study demonstrated that an aquatic and recreation centre can be built to have zero energy costs, making its operations affordable, and not a burden to Inverness County tax payers. 

    The concept of “value for money” is an effective way to compare the multimillion-dollar Inverness ball courts to an aquatic centre serving the county. The funds being spent on the ball courts in Inverness would be about the same required by the county to have an aquatic and recreation centre, about $3 million. The big difference in “value for money” between these two projects is that the ball courts will be used about 100 days a year and an aquatic centre about 360 days a year. 

    The “value for money” comparison also applies to who will use the facilities. A narrow sector of the public will use ball courts. An aquatic centre will be used by infants, the elderly, athletes, and the infirm. Positive health outcomes are far more evident from an aquatic centre than from ball courts.

    There are numerous other advantages to an aquatic and recreation centre. This would be a year-round long-term job creator including lifeguards, swimming instructors, and daily operations personnel. It would be a showcase facility both for residents and the visiting public. It would be a centre for physical and mental health, socialization and education. It would be an example of energy-neutral design and construction for public facilities, and would be something for the whole county to be proud of.

    Our conversations with the provincial departments that fund recreation have indicated that both provincial and federal funds are available for such an aquatic and recreation centre, yet Inverness County Council has refused to pursue such opportunities.
   

Warden Bonny’s pickle is a story that needs explanation now:
– Who came up with the idea for the ball courts in Inverness?
– Who decided to withhold the release of the Recreation Master Plan since 2023? 
– When was the ball court project approved by council, or was it?
– How was a budget established, and why was it not made public?
– Who got the contract to design the ball courts in Inverness? Was this contract publicly advertised and tendered?
– Who was awarded the contract to build the courts? Was this contract publicly advertised and tendered?
– Were there any publicly advertised meetings to discuss the ball courts for Inverness, if so where, when, and why not for other communities in our county?
– Why expensive ball courts in Inverness, and not low-cost courts, as the recreation plan recommended, for more of our communities?
– Why was a future Phase 2 started before Phase 1 was completed, even though Phase 1 went way over budget? Was it an end-run before the public became aware of how controversial this ball court project is?
– Why did the county shun an aquatic centre, and run a disinformation campaign against it, while quietly moving full speed ahead on seasonal ball courts for Inverness?

    What is going on here?

    Something smells very bad at Inverness County council. We need to find out how decisions got made for the ball courts in Inverness, now costing more than $5 million. We need to learn if it’s not just a rotten pickle, but if it’s cronyism and bad governance. 

            Brian Peters
            Neal Livingston
            Co-Chairs
            Margaree Environmental Association

August 20, 2025

Inverness Oran, Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor, 

    The development of recreational infrastructure in our county is not a winner-takes-all competitive sport, where a few communities win, and the other communities are left without. Unfortunately, this is exactly what is taking place in Inverness County.

    The story began with messaging from the county that Inverness will get a pickle ball court at no expense to taxpayers. At the same time, the Inverness County Physical Activity and Recreation Master Plan, although completed in 2023, is still unreleased by the county. This allows the Inverness County Multi-Use Recreation Courts to do an “end-run” towards construction, without any apparent public input on cost, design, location, and tendering. 

    The budget is now over $5 million, and could be as much as $6 million, with the county’s contribution at least $3 million, or 10 per cent of its budget this year. All this is happening while CAO Keith MacDonald, Warden Bonny MacIsaac, and other councillors have insisted that the county has only enough funds for sewer and water, and garbage. 

    The real garbage is how the public has been kept in the dark about the planning of the ball courts in Inverness. The Inverness County Multi-Use Recreation Courts have a huge price tag, which tells us that other communities will not get new ball courts, and residents in other communities should drive long distances to play ball in Inverness. The same budget could have built low-cost courts in five or six communities.

    Three years ago, our group, the Margaree Environmental Association (MEA), completed a provincially-funded aquatic centre feasibility study. Cape Breton University did a public opinion survey, and so did the county, which showed that an aquatic centre was the top choice of residents. The MEA study demonstrated that an aquatic and recreation centre can be built to have zero energy costs, making its operations affordable, and not a burden to Inverness County tax payers. 

    The concept of “value for money” is an effective way to compare the multimillion-dollar Inverness ball courts to an aquatic centre serving the county. The funds being spent on the ball courts in Inverness would be about the same required by the county to have an aquatic and recreation centre, about $3 million. The big difference in “value for money” between these two projects is that the ball courts will be used about 100 days a year and an aquatic centre about 360 days a year. 

    The “value for money” comparison also applies to who will use the facilities. A narrow sector of the public will use ball courts. An aquatic centre will be used by infants, the elderly, athletes, and the infirm. Positive health outcomes are far more evident from an aquatic centre than from ball courts.

    There are numerous other advantages to an aquatic and recreation centre. This would be a year-round long-term job creator including lifeguards, swimming instructors, and daily operations personnel. It would be a showcase facility both for residents and the visiting public. It would be a centre for physical and mental health, socialization and education. It would be an example of energy-neutral design and construction for public facilities, and would be something for the whole county to be proud of.

    Our conversations with the provincial departments that fund recreation have indicated that both provincial and federal funds are available for such an aquatic and recreation centre, yet Inverness County Council has refused to pursue such opportunities.
   

Warden Bonny’s pickle is a story that needs explanation now:
– Who came up with the idea for the ball courts in Inverness?
– Who decided to withhold the release of the Recreation Master Plan since 2023? 
– When was the ball court project approved by council, or was it?
– How was a budget established, and why was it not made public?
– Who got the contract to design the ball courts in Inverness? Was this contract publicly advertised and tendered?
– Who was awarded the contract to build the courts? Was this contract publicly advertised and tendered?
– Were there any publicly advertised meetings to discuss the ball courts for Inverness, if so where, when, and why not for other communities in our county?
– Why expensive ball courts in Inverness, and not low-cost courts, as the recreation plan recommended, for more of our communities?
– Why was a future Phase 2 started before Phase 1 was completed, even though Phase 1 went way over budget? Was it an end-run before the public became aware of how controversial this ball court project is?
– Why did the county shun an aquatic centre, and run a disinformation campaign against it, while quietly moving full speed ahead on seasonal ball courts for Inverness?

    What is going on here?

    Something smells very bad at Inverness County council. We need to find out how decisions got made for the ball courts in Inverness, now costing more than $5 million. We need to learn if it’s not just a rotten pickle, but if it’s cronyism and bad governance. 

            Brian Peters
            Neal Livingston
            Co-Chairs
            Margaree Environmental Association