It must be the most expensive deer hunting trip ever.Parks Canada's latest wildlife management initiative, a deer hunt project on a small BC island, is set to cost taxpayers $12 million, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) has revealed.“It’s hard to imagine how Parks Canada could spend millions shooting deer,” said Franco Terrazzano, CTF Federal Director. “Here’s the kicker: hunters who actually live on the island are bagging these deer for free.”The $12-million Fur to Forest program is a Parks Canada effort to eradicate the European fallow deer population on Sidney Island (located between the coast of B.C. and Vancouver Island), and restore native vegetation, tree seedlings and shrubs. "Foreign sharpshooters armed with restricted semi-automatic rifles hunted the deer during phase one of the operations. Phase one cost more than $800,000, including $67,000 spent renting a helicopter, for a hit to taxpayers of $10,000 a head," said a Wednesday CTF release."The expert marksmen, from the United States and New Zealand, only managed to kill 84 deer. Eighteen were the wrong kind of deer — native black-tailed deer. They weren’t able to confirm the species of the three other deer shot."Terrazzano said residents of Sidney Island organized their own hunt last fall. They killed 54 deer at no cost to taxpayers.“It’s crazy that Parks Canada flew in marksmen from other countries to shoot deer,” Terrazzano said. “It’s even crazier that these ‘marksmen’ kept shooting the wrong kind of deer.”A detailed project budget obtained by the CTF through an access-to-information request reveals Parks Canada plans to spend $11.9 million on the scheme.The CTF said taxpayers will be on the hook for $4.1 million for the killing of deer on Sidney Island, according to the records. An additional $2.8 million will go towards the salaries and benefits of Parks Canada staff. A total of $137,000 will be spent on “firearms certification for international workers” throughout the project, while $1.4 million will go towards studies and analysis, and nearly $800,000 is earmarked for “indigenous participation.” Parks Canada estimates there are between 300 and 900 invasive deer on the island, with phase two of the operation, which is scheduled to begin this fall, will involve ground hunting with dogs. “Let’s just state the obvious: Parks Canada is bad at hunting and more money isn’t going to make it better,” Terrazzano said. “The good folks who live on Sidney Island are clearly more qualified to handle this and the government should get out of their way.”
