There is no good reason to…

There is no good reason to reinstate the spring bear hunt. Residents of northern Ontario who hunt for food have always done this in the fall. Most of those who participate in the spring hunt come from elsewhere, and they use the services of local outfitters, some of whom engage in the questionable practice of bear baiting -- attracting bears with stinky food to places where hunters lie in wait for them (what kind of sport is that?). Many of these "hunters" are unable to differentiate between male and female bears, so nursing females are illegally killed alongside the males, resulting in the inevitable death of their cubs.
We read the old argument that a spring bear hunt is necessary to prevent a rise in dangerous bear-human contact. I propose a counter-argument: even with bear baiting, not all the bears attracted will be killed. The more bears are attracted to human foods like those set out to attract them at baiting stations, the more they are likely to become problem animals.
A far more likely cause of any problem with human-bear contact is the acute and ongoing deforestation and loss of habitat of all forest-dwelling wildlife, which forces bears into places they shouldn't be. I implore the government to rethink its plans to expand areas available to logging companies, and as well to oversee much more closely all of their operations. So much habitat has already been completely lost, or compromised so badly that it cannot support normal biodiversity.
Science does not support the return of the spring bear hunt. It seems as if the ministry can't supply any evidence to support it either. A vague notion of small economic benefit is not enough. I suspect the push is coming from a relatively small group of outfitters who depend on non-resident spring hunters. Sorry, but that's not enough. The long-term greater good must be the primary motivation for any government action, and for the ministries of environment and natural resources, economic arguments are only a part of it. The health of the planet and all its living creatures, including us, has to be paramount.