Harper announces hunting-fishing advisory panel

Conservatives are "natural conservationists," 

Prime Minister Stephen Harper stated Wednesday.

Photograph by: The Canadian Press, National Post

Harper announces hunting-fishing advisory panel

By Jason Fekete

Vancouver Sun

Postmedia News

May 30, 2012

OTTAWA — Facing accusations that his government is weakening fish and habitat protection, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Wednesday the establishment of a hunting and angling advisory panel that will report to the environment minister and help craft government policy.

Speaking in Ottawa at the first National Fish and Wildlife Conservation Congress, Harper defended his government's policies as being focused both on promoting economic growth and protecting the environment.

The event was organized in part by the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, a group that has lobbied the government, including Fisheries and Oceans Minister Keith Ashfield, multiple times over the past year on issues such as the amendments to the Fisheries Act, invasive species and game farms.

Harper used his speech to announce the creation of the government's Hunting and Angling Advisory Panel, a promise included in the Conservatives' federal election platform.

The panel will be composed of provincial and territorial representatives from hunting and angling associations. It will report directly to the federal environment minister and help ensure the government's decisions "are based on sound science and balanced advice," he said.

"With well-informed management of our wildlife resources, there need be no conflict between responsible economic development and environmental protection. And on our watch, there will be no such conflict," Harper told the crowd of outdoors enthusiasts, conservation groups and wildlife scientists.

"Instead, we shall continue to develop partnerships between government, landowners and recreational users, whose practical and scientific approaches have already done so much good."

Harper touched on elements of his government's omnibus budget implementation bill that would overhaul ecological protection — something which has become a lightning rod for criticism from opposition parties and environmental groups.

A large component on the budget implementation bill is being used to scrap or rewrite several Canadian environmental protection laws and remove federal oversight and accountability mechanisms under the existing legislation.

As part of it, the Fisheries Act would be stripped of requirements to protect fish habitat, instead to focus on supporting commercial, recreational or aboriginal fisheries.

The bill would also remove annual reporting and auditing requirements for Parks Canada and weaken existing provisions of the Species At Risk Act that restrict permits for projects that threaten critical habitat.

Canadian scientists warned this week in a new letter to the Conservative government that, by watering down the Fisheries Act, it is effectively sabotaging its own legislated requirement to protect endangered freshwater fish.

Harper, however, said Conservatives are "natural conservationists" and that his government believes preserving and increasing recreational fisheries "must be a priority."

"That is why we recently announced changes to not only preserve what we have, but to increase the productivity of the recreational fishery, while protecting vital wetlands that support these fisheries," the prime minister added.

"Over the next six months we will be developing regulations to guide our efforts."

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