2009-04-06
06:53:29
A Conservative MPP is admitting the Harris government was wrong in cancelling the Spring Bear Hunt ten years ago.
Randy Hillier, a candidate in the Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership race, is vowing to bring back the hunt if he wins the leadership race.
Hillier says the evidence today shows cancelling the hunt was a bad decision.
"It was the wrong decision back in 1999," says Hillier, "we know that to be truthful now. So it's incumbent upon us to fix those mistakes that we've created."
Hillier says reinstating the hunt will ease of burden for municipalities dealing with nuisance bears and help northern Ontario lodge owners.
"This is just not a problem in the far north. In my riding, Lanark-Frontenac, we have a number of tourist outfitters and a number of farms who've suffered significant crop damage. So it make senses everywhere (to reinstate the hunt).
The Northern Ontario Tourist Outfitters is among organizations that have welcomed the call for the hunt to be reinstated.
