Here`s what I read, More moose tags for northern hunters by 2005
By Dan Gauthier

Miner and News

Northern Ontario moose hunters will have a better chance of receiving an adult tag in next year's moose lottery, says Minister of Natural Resources David Ramsay.

Ramsay said on Friday the MNR is reviewing the moose tag allocation process and lottery technology to ensure residents of northern Ontario have better access to adult validation tags by the fall of 2005 hunting season.

"There are ways to do a preferential draw for northerners," said Ramsay. "So we will, in some sense, make that happen next year."

Ramsay was responding to criticism last week from both NDP leader and Kenora-Rainy River MPP Howard Hampton, and NDP natural resources critic and Timmins-James Bay MPP Gilles Bisson. Both Hampton and Bisson said Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty has not followed through on his True North 2003 election platform that promised to give Northern Ontario hunters a better shot at moose tags this year.

Ramsay, however, defended the Liberal leader and his northern election platform as a four-year plan, not a quick-fix strategy.

"When you launch a campaign platform, these are the goals over a four-year period," said Ramsay. "You're basically laying out a program over the term of a four-year government and you can't do everything overnight."

Ramsay said the NDP was wrong in their criticism as the ministry has allocated nearly 400 more adult moose tags for resident hunters this year on top of more than 16,000 tags that were available in 2003.

"That's got nothing to do with the promise they made in their election platform," said Hampton.

Hampton said that the number of available moose tags across Ontario are not the issue here as they are allotted based on the size and strength of the moose population. He said the real issue is changing the lottery system to the advantage of northern Ontario hunters and is skeptical that the Liberal government will have this new system in place by 2005, especially since the moose tag draw takes place in the spring.

"Unless they have an altered lottery system already in place, that won't happen by the fall of 2005," said Hampton of the planned changes to the moose tag draw. "You need to know what you are doing on this."

Ramsay said the new lottery system would have been in place sooner if not for the outdated computer technology in place that the draw was implemented on in the 1980s, but again promised to have it place by the next hunting season.

"It will be done," said Ramsay. "Those changes will be in place by the fall of 2005."

Hampton said that both he and his natural resource critic Bisson will hold the minister to this promise as will all moose hunters across northern Ontario.

"I'll be watching with interest and I'm sure Gilles Bisson will also be watching with interest over the next six months," said Hampton. "This issue can create more heated public discussion more than any other issue I know."