BC Liberal wildlife allocation policy deprives hunters of over 400 tags
BC Conservatives release new numbers demonstrating BC Liberals have marginalized hunters concerns.
KAMLOOPS - April 23rd, 2015 - Dan Brooks, leader of the BC Conservative Party, today released numbers that show the BC Liberal wildlife allocation policy deprived B.C. hunters of over 400 tags and is still more than 4400 tags from where many B.C. hunters believe the policy should be.
"The BC Liberals have been marginalizing hunters and their concerns over the policy, but these new numbers show B.C. hunters have been sold out by the BC Liberals," Brooks said.
Minister Thomson stated in a February 6th news release that the policy was only about 60 animals, but new information recently made available to the BC Conservative Party through a freedom of information request shows this does not represent the real picture to hunters. The resident allocation in 2014 should have been higher, but was suppressed by temporary measures such as hardship rules which gave more allocation to outfitters. The actual number of animals at issue is 129. Under the Limited Entry Hunting system which issues tags calculated on success rates, these 129 animals represent 405 tags lost by B.C. resident hunters.
"Those 60 animals Minister Thomson referenced actually represents more than 400 Limited Entry Hunting tags. But more than that, hunter anger over the wildlife allocation policy is about thousands of tags B.C. hunters have lost over many years as the BC Liberals have shifted allocation in favour of non-resident hunters."
Numbers released by Brooks demonstrate that the current policy is still 4424 tags short of a 90% resident hunter allocation, which represents a 25% loss of hunting tags over what is currently allocated.
"Having been an outfitter myself once, I know firsthand the problems facing the outfitting industry. But using resident hunter allocation to fix outfitter problems is not a fair solution."
In March Brooks released a 5 point common sense plan to solve the wildlife allocation crisis. The plan calls for a new system to allocate wildlife.
1 - Legislate allocation to provide greater certainty and stability.
2 - One fixed allocation for all species for all regions.
3 - Close allocation loopholes.
4 - End foreign ownership and foreign guides.
5 - Invest in greater conservation and wildlife management.
Brooks, who will be attending the BC Wildlife Federation Annual General Meeting in Fernie this weekend said he intends to take the new tag numbers with him to rally hunter support in favour of his plan.
"This issue demonstrates why now more than ever, we need BC Conservatives in the legislature," said Brooks. "The BC Liberals have thrown hunters to the wolves, the BC NDP have done nothing and offer no solutions to the problem, and the BC Greens are fixated on grizzly bear meat as though it had anything at all to do with allocation. Only the BC Conservative Party will defend the rights of B.C. hunters."
Click here to view the Wildlife Allocation Limited Entry Hunting Tag Comparison
CONTACTS:
Dan Brooks
Leader, BC Conservative Party
250-944-0435
BC Conservatives release new numbers demonstrating BC Liberals have marginalized hunters concerns.
KAMLOOPS - April 23rd, 2015 - Dan Brooks, leader of the BC Conservative Party, today released numbers that show the BC Liberal wildlife allocation policy deprived B.C. hunters of over 400 tags and is still more than 4400 tags from where many B.C. hunters believe the policy should be.
"The BC Liberals have been marginalizing hunters and their concerns over the policy, but these new numbers show B.C. hunters have been sold out by the BC Liberals," Brooks said.
Minister Thomson stated in a February 6th news release that the policy was only about 60 animals, but new information recently made available to the BC Conservative Party through a freedom of information request shows this does not represent the real picture to hunters. The resident allocation in 2014 should have been higher, but was suppressed by temporary measures such as hardship rules which gave more allocation to outfitters. The actual number of animals at issue is 129. Under the Limited Entry Hunting system which issues tags calculated on success rates, these 129 animals represent 405 tags lost by B.C. resident hunters.
"Those 60 animals Minister Thomson referenced actually represents more than 400 Limited Entry Hunting tags. But more than that, hunter anger over the wildlife allocation policy is about thousands of tags B.C. hunters have lost over many years as the BC Liberals have shifted allocation in favour of non-resident hunters."
Numbers released by Brooks demonstrate that the current policy is still 4424 tags short of a 90% resident hunter allocation, which represents a 25% loss of hunting tags over what is currently allocated.
"Having been an outfitter myself once, I know firsthand the problems facing the outfitting industry. But using resident hunter allocation to fix outfitter problems is not a fair solution."
In March Brooks released a 5 point common sense plan to solve the wildlife allocation crisis. The plan calls for a new system to allocate wildlife.
1 - Legislate allocation to provide greater certainty and stability.
2 - One fixed allocation for all species for all regions.
3 - Close allocation loopholes.
4 - End foreign ownership and foreign guides.
5 - Invest in greater conservation and wildlife management.
Brooks, who will be attending the BC Wildlife Federation Annual General Meeting in Fernie this weekend said he intends to take the new tag numbers with him to rally hunter support in favour of his plan.
"This issue demonstrates why now more than ever, we need BC Conservatives in the legislature," said Brooks. "The BC Liberals have thrown hunters to the wolves, the BC NDP have done nothing and offer no solutions to the problem, and the BC Greens are fixated on grizzly bear meat as though it had anything at all to do with allocation. Only the BC Conservative Party will defend the rights of B.C. hunters."
Click here to view the Wildlife Allocation Limited Entry Hunting Tag Comparison
CONTACTS:
Dan Brooks
Leader, BC Conservative Party
250-944-0435
