the broken typewriter

Following on from yesterday’s post – we’re into the Top 10 articles of the year now, one from March and one from October.

Proposed changes to hunting regulations garnered almost the same number of views as the election editorial urging voters to stop sniping at each other on Facebook and vote instead. With Jordan Kealy winning Peace River North by a huge margin, it was clear voters did put aside their keyboards and head to the polls.

#10 – Proposed regulation changes an attack on resident hunters

Proposed changes to BC’s Hunting and Trapping Regulations for 2024-26, are putting more restrictions on hunters and seem designed to remove resident hunters from the landscape, according to the BC Wildlife Federation.

“Political optics, backroom dealing and emotion are replacing sound data and science-based wildlife management,” said Steve Hamilton, Conservation, Hunting, Angling and Firearms Policy & Engagement Coordinator with the BCWF. “That means fewer and fewer resident hunters will be permitted on the land for fewer and fewer days.”

BC already allows for fewer hunters per square kilometre than Alberta, whose hunter density is roughly double BC’s. Less resident hunters means less revenue for wildlife management. Hunting allows hunters to provide food for their families, manage wildlife populations, and add to the government’s coffers through hunting tags and license fees.

Revenues have declined by 75 percent since 1993, with only a fraction of hunting tags and license fees being dedicated to wildlife management, Hamilton said.

“These restrictions come at a time when funding for wildlife management is at an historic low in British Columbia as a proportion of the provincial budget for renewable resource management,” he said. “The province is not managing our natural assets responsibly.”

If wildlife management was handed over to a multi-stakeholder group, including First Nations and non-government organizations such as BCWF, Hamilton believes that would insulate wildlife funding and decision making from political considerations, for the benefit of all.

Like Hamilton, Peace River North MLA Dan Davies is concerned that these proposed changes are not based on science, serve only to erode hunters’ rights and are not what’s in the best interests of British Columbians.

“It’s a slow attack on people who live in our rural and remote communities in the North. We live up here because we want access to that, that’s why we live up in the North. We want to be connected to our land. This is just another whittling away of that,” Davies said.

Follow this link to continue reading #10

#9 – Keyboard warriors need a Time Out

Holy Cow – keyboard warriors, it’s time for a Time Out. Take a breath, take a step back and chill.

Yes, you’re angry. We’re all angry.

The provincial NDP government has run up the provincial debt astronomically. They’ve ruined our economy; destroyed our healthcare system to the point where finding enough doctors and nurses to fill shifts and keep ER’s open is becoming more and more difficult; driven companies like Canfor away from our communities; worsened the drug crisis; embraced the catch-and-release method of justice – all while dividing us and encouraging us to fight amongst ourselves.

But the two men running for MLA in Peace River North aren’t to blame. They are not the enemy. Fighting amongst ourselves from the safety of our keyboards, hurling insults through cyberspace, destroying campaign signs, calling people names for preferring one candidate over another and for believing in their message, is not helping to bring about change.

Change is needed in BC. We all know it. Tearing down those who care enough about Peace River North and its people to put their names forward to represent the region in Victoria isn’t going to bring about that change.

It’s been said the people in this region would give you the shirt off their back if you needed it. We’ve seen examples of that this year, when Fort Nelson was evacuated. So many people in the North and South Peace came forward to help. With donations, with places to house their pets and livestock, with places to stay . . . the list goes on.

Both the MLA candidates were among those who stepped up to lend a hand in whatever ways they could.

This election is unique.

Follow this link to continue reading #9

There won’t be a post tomorrow as it’s Christmas Day, but the countdown to the most read Broken Typewriter article on 2024 will continue on Boxing Day.