Toronto, December 29, 2004:  The Ontario Wildlife Coalition challenges the Minister of Finance, Greg Sorbara, Minister of Natural Resources, David Ramsay and the McGuinty government to make the following New Year’s resolutions:

The Minister of Finance – Greg Sorbara:

The Ontario Wildlife Coalition challenges the Minister of Finance to make the following pledge – “I Greg Sorbara promise to examine the Ministry of Natural Resources for wasteful spending, including hundreds of thousands of additional tax dollars to treat wildlife rehabilitators as potential criminals while eliminating what little help is available for the public with respect to wildlife concerns, particularly, when limited funds could be better spent by the ministry in targeting poachers and illegal hunting.”

The Minister of Natural Resources – David Ramsay:

The Ontario Wildlife Coalition challenges the Minister of Natural Resources to make the following pledge – “I David Ramsay promise to stop unfairly and negatively targeting Ontario’s wildlife rehabilitators, to manage wildlife for all Ontarians, not just those who hunt fish and trap and to be more responsive and representative of the 80 to 97% of Ontarians not involved in consumptive use of wildlife.”

The McGuinty Government:

The Ontario Wildlife Coalition challenges the McGuinty government to make the following pledge – “We, the McGuinty government agree to fulfill the promise we made to the residents of eastern Ontario during the election to have an independent inquiry into the Ministry’s actions against the Ottawa-Carleton Wildlife Centre in the summer of 2002 and to require that the Ministry of Natural Resources staff release the information requested by the Ottawa-Carleton Wildlife Centre through Freedom of Information on the controversial seizure of healthy young animals taken for research purposes.”

The Ontario Wildlife Coalition calls upon the Government and relative Ministers to fulfill their election promises and their obligations to Ontarians through their New Year’s resolutions and begin implementing them immediately in 2005.

For further information please contact Liz White, Ontario Wildlife Coalition, 416-462-9541 (w), 416-809-4371 (cell),  Donna DuBreuil, Ottawa-Carleton Wildlife Centre 613-282-3755 (cell) or Barry MacKay, Animal Protection Institute, 905-472-9731 (w)