Environment committee  Thank you, Mr. Sopuck, for the question. As I said earlier in my statement before the committee, wildlife is not an accident, and healthy and thriving fish and wildlife populations are not accidents. They have to be managed. They have to be managed to protect them and they have

Environment committee  Exactly. In a word, yes.

Environment committee  Indirectly, yes, because one begets the other begets the other. If it becomes too onerous, and this applies not only to the long-gun registry, but also to overly restrictive regulations, licencing issues, cost factors, and stuff like that, once there are too many of those in pla

Environment committee  I'll try to respond really quickly. The figures we have seen show primarily that the tourism industry in particular, when it comes to outdoor activities, is predominantly American. Yes, there are European tourists that come here. There's no doubt about that. In terms of environm

Environment committee  Thank you for the question. I appreciate it very much. You cited a couple of examples, so I'll refer to those first. On the deer on Manitoulin Island, you're quite correct. It was a bad winter last year, and our DeerSave program had to contribute $10,000 to cut trails and whatn

Environment committee  There are a number of reasons that people are getting involved in hunting, women and youth in particular. Yes, you're quite right that part of it is because of family. Hunting and fishing are family activities in many areas, and certainly if the father or husband hunts, it's more

Environment committee  Sure. One of the first recommendations we made was that there needs to be a proper and thorough economic study of hunting, trapping, and fishing in this country. If you look at the U.S., they have an enormous number of studies done by professionals and government that clearly def

Environment committee  In your particular riding there are 1,130 licensed hunters, and that's just in our organization. There are probably many more, but those are the ones who belong to our organization, who are licensed hunters, and who live in your riding. As I noted, in Scarborough the number is

Environment committee  For Ontario I don't have to guess. In Ontario right now 20% of the people taking hunter education courses are women. Another roughly 25% are youth. Last year we put 25,000 new hunters through the hunter education program. You can do the math—you're probably better at it than I am

Environment committee  Sure. HAAP was created after the National Fish and Wildlife Conservation Congress to provide a sounding board for government policies, programs, and ideas dealing with natural resources, particularly fish and wildlife resources, in Canada. The panel meets on average twice a year.

Environment committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good morning, Mr. Chair, members of the committee, and fellow panellists, if you're out there in cyberspace somewhere. On behalf of the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, one of the largest and oldest conservation-based organizations in Canada, wit

Environment committee  Participation in hunting continues to grow. Over the last decade the Ontario hunter education safety program, which we administer on behalf of the Ministry of Natural Resources, has trained over 250,000 new hunters in Ontario. Of particular significance is that the proportion of

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Monsieur Dion, for the question. I appreciate it. We are coming up on the cusp of national family fishing week in the next short while. There is also an Ontario family fishing weekend, which brings thousands of people. For instance, just outside of Peterborough we hos

Canadian Heritage committee  I'll certainly give it a go, Mr. Falk. The OFAH already does outreach on a regular basis. One of the outreach programs that we're most proud of is our new Canadians program. This bill would help focus some real attention on these particular pastimes, these recreational pursuits,

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good afternoon to you and the members of the committee. On behalf of the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, which is celebrating its 86th anniversary this year, our 100,000 members, and our 710 member clubs across Ontario, we appreciate the opportu