The Northern Ontario Party wants two new government ministries created, saying northerners are fed up with "the constant regulation changes and nonsensical rules that the Government force upon Northern Hunters."
The NOP wants the creation of a Northern Ministry of Natural Resources and a Northern Ministry of Fish and Wildlife operated by Northerners.
"Currently, Northerners have little to no say on how our mineral resources are handed out to multinational corporations, how our lakes are stocked or which animals we can harvest during Ontario’s hunting seasons," says leader Trevor Holliday. "Currently, Queens Park makes huge profits from selling fishing and hunting licenses for people to take fish and game out of northern Ontario, while the north sees little if any return from the provincial government."
The NOP says a Northern Ministry of Fish and Wildlife will allow Northerners to make hunting and fishing regulations that make sense to the North.
"Over the last few years, our moose and rabbit populations have dropped dramatically. Instead of actively seeking a positive solution like controlling predator populations or speaking with First Nations to come up with reasonable agreements for a shared harvest the MNRF puts out a statement that these population declines must be because of global warming.
"First, it was ending the spring bear hunt that created a huge population of nuisance bears invading our cities, then it was protecting the cormorants, an invasive species that wrecked havoc on our lakes now it's reducing our moose and rabbit hunts. When will the GTA focused politicians admit they don’t have a clue how to manage the northern wildlife and let the best and most qualified people take over this precious resource? The only people for this job is Northerners." said Holliday.
