The Need for New Northern Ministries

Oct 19, 2017 @ 05:23

It’s been no secret that the Northern Ontario Party has been advocating for greater independence and control over Northern Ontario affairs. This is especially true when it comes to Northern Ontario’s abundance of natural resources. 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. 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.  Even our Crown land is now charged at a premium rate that scares most but the harden, diehard American who wants to experience a Canadian weekend out on one of our pristine lakes. But who benefits from this? Is it The small Northern business that sells a couple dozen worms? No, it is Queen’s Park.

The Northern Ontario Party, demands that Queens Park develops two new ministries that are put under the control of Northern Ontario and operated by Northerners. The NOP wants the creation of a Northern  Ministry of Natural Resources and a  Northern Ministry of Fish and Wildlife.

The Northern Ministry of Fish and Wildlife will allow Northerners to make hunting and fishing regulations that make sense to the North. Currently, the MNRF Minister Kathryn McGarry, although she appears to be a knowledgeable person with regards to health care and issues that affect her southern riding of Cambridge, has little to no experience with Northern Ontario or how to manage Northern wildlife. 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 populations decline must be because of global warming.

Trevor Holliday states many Northerners are upset with the constant regulation changes and nonsensical rules that the Government force upon Northern Hunters.

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

Northern Ontario Party

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