I think it's important to ask that question in a larger context. This is not just about hunters and their licences expiring. First, there's police discretion in laying charges or not in various cases.
Second, the reason we have licences is to make sure, as this government has said many times, that those who own guns are authorized, are able, and are safe to own guns. This is important in initial screening, but it's also important on an ongoing basis, especially if you look at specific cases of....
This government has often said, as an argument supporting the abolition of the registry, that you don't need to know exactly what guns are on the premises when you're called for a domestic violence incident or something like that. You just check and see if the people who live in the house own guns and that should be enough for them to take preventive actions. To know if an owner or person in a home owns a gun, the licence has to be up to date. That's the only thing now that can tell police if this is a gun owner, because if you own guns you at least need to have a licence.