Here is my letter to my MP London Fanshawe and her reply.
Dear Ms. Mathyssen,
As one of your constituents I am puzzled by your nay vote regarding bill C-222. I am disappointed by this outcome and would like a brief explanation as to why my "representative" in Ottawa believes that traditional activities such as hunting, trapping and angling deserve no protection.
Yours truly,
######
Dear ###X
Thank you for writing. I appreciate you sharing your concern in regard to this Bill, and for giving me the opportunity to explain why I did not support it.
Essentially the legislation itself was too poorly constructed for me to support this Bill.
This legislation did not seek to protect our hunting and fishing heritage, but rather was seeking to enshrine it as a "right". In legislative and judicial interpretation, the use of the term "right" needs to be applied very carefully.
Finally, the most serious flaw in this legislation is that the powers to regulate hunting and trapping are the jurisdiciton of the provincial governments as laid out in our constitution. We clearly already have many, many problems with overlap between federal and provincial governments, the convoluted blame game that so frequently happens on the healthcare issue is the clearest example of this. I simply cannot support further muddying the waters between what the responsibilities are between the different levels of government. Having served at both the provincial and federal level of government, I know all too well the problems this causes.
I recognize that many thousands of Canadians enjoy hunting and fishing, and certainly do not wish to prevent them from enjoying these activities, but the legislation properly regulating these activities so that they are conducted safely and environmentally essentially already exists. The Private Member's Bill did not accomplish anything but muddy the waters. It was more grandstanding than substance. I think parliamentarians should spend more time on substance than show.
I hope this provides you some clarification on why I voted against the legislation as is.
Best regards,
Irene Mathyssen
Member of Parliament
London-Fanshawe
Dear Ms. Mathyssen,
As one of your constituents I am puzzled by your nay vote regarding bill C-222. I am disappointed by this outcome and would like a brief explanation as to why my "representative" in Ottawa believes that traditional activities such as hunting, trapping and angling deserve no protection.
Yours truly,
######
Dear ###X
Thank you for writing. I appreciate you sharing your concern in regard to this Bill, and for giving me the opportunity to explain why I did not support it.
Essentially the legislation itself was too poorly constructed for me to support this Bill.
This legislation did not seek to protect our hunting and fishing heritage, but rather was seeking to enshrine it as a "right". In legislative and judicial interpretation, the use of the term "right" needs to be applied very carefully.
Finally, the most serious flaw in this legislation is that the powers to regulate hunting and trapping are the jurisdiciton of the provincial governments as laid out in our constitution. We clearly already have many, many problems with overlap between federal and provincial governments, the convoluted blame game that so frequently happens on the healthcare issue is the clearest example of this. I simply cannot support further muddying the waters between what the responsibilities are between the different levels of government. Having served at both the provincial and federal level of government, I know all too well the problems this causes.
I recognize that many thousands of Canadians enjoy hunting and fishing, and certainly do not wish to prevent them from enjoying these activities, but the legislation properly regulating these activities so that they are conducted safely and environmentally essentially already exists. The Private Member's Bill did not accomplish anything but muddy the waters. It was more grandstanding than substance. I think parliamentarians should spend more time on substance than show.
I hope this provides you some clarification on why I voted against the legislation as is.
Best regards,
Irene Mathyssen
Member of Parliament
London-Fanshawe
