The previous PC government…

The previous PC government passed the Heritage Hunting and Fishing Act back in the early 2000’s. The preamble to this act states:
“The best traditions of recreational hunting and fishing should be valued by future generations.”
I fail to see how shooting a species has no use as food with only the intent to kill it and let it spoil is part of the hunting tradition in this province. This is exactly the type of behaviour that our hunting laws attempt to eliminate. The fact that there has to be an amendment to the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act to add provisions so hunters could allow cormorant to spoil shows how far this proposal is from the best traditions of hunting.
As a hunter myself who thinks it is important that at least a portion of my food comes from the land and connects me directly to our resources, I find this proposal embarrassing and frankly, disgusting to be associated with hunting.

Currently, hunting is an activity that is conducted by a relatively small portion of the Ontario public. It is permitted to occur because the majority of non-hunting Ontarians see it as well managed, focussed on providing sustainable food and other benefits to the province. However, permitting activities such as this proposal which is essentially legalizing wanton killing of animals for no use will shift this perception and threaten the support of hunting as a viable activity in the province for the future.
There are situations in Ontario where cormorants may be out of balance with the ecosystem. These specific instances can be identified and dealt with, much as they currently are. I don’t see how random killing by the public will help address these specific situations in a helpful, thoughtful and science based manner.