Amendments to controversial gun bill may scare away Americans, outfitters say | 24CA News

In Dale Clark’s estimation, the cash introduced into New Brunswick by non-resident hunters — Americans or others — has by no means been absolutely appreciated.

“It is a multi-million dollar industry in the province that is not being recognized by our government, federal or provincial,” stated Clark, president of the New Brunswick Professional Outfitters and Guides Association.

“We have been put on — I don’t know how you say [it] — the backburner.”

Although the federal authorities has promised it is not going after looking rifles or shotguns, Clark and others say they concern that any additional restrictions on semi-automatic weapons may have American hunters, or different vacationers who sometimes deliver their very own firearms right here, reconsidering their journeys.

According to the province’s govt council workplace, 3,600 non-resident hunters got here to New Brunswick in 2019. 

Bear looking licences alone introduced in additional than $300,000 in gross sales earlier than taxes, with 1,870 of them bought for $160 a pop.

Now, after the business noticed a “very drastic decline” in the course of the pandemic, Clark stated the federal authorities’s Bill C-21 and its controversial modification that might ban many looking rifles and shotguns has put it beneath hearth as soon as once more.

“I would say … that probably 75 per cent of our membership relies on bringing in non-residents,” he stated.

Customer base solely now beginning to rebound

Rob Argue — who runs two looking and fishing lodges in western and northern Quebec, in addition to turkey looking operations in japanese Ontario — stated he has two guidelines he abides by in business, particularly with Americans.

“I don’t talk politics and I don’t talk religion,” he stated.

But speak of politics has grow to be “almost impossible” to keep away from lately, he stated — together with the subject of gun management.

“I think the more hiccups or complications that we have in the process for someone to come up, at some point they’re just going to say it’s not worth the hassle,” stated Argue, who is predicated in Ottawa.

Originally, Bill C-21 was proposed as laws to ban handguns in Canada, however an modification launched by the federal government this fall added language that might create an “evergreen definition” of “assault-style” firearms banned by Ottawa.

Supporters of the ban have repeatedly expressed issues about producers evading the rules by introducing new fashions. Critics, in the meantime, name the modification an overreach.

“The point of the evergreen is to … alleviate some of the pressure on officials and experts to revisit this every year, every two years, or sometimes arbitrarily even longer than that,” Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino stated lately.

In response to criticisms of the modification’s language, the minister stated the federal government could be some gun fashions “very carefully.”

Argue stated most of his purchasers deliver up typical looking rifles just like the Weatherby MARK V, a bolt-action rifle he stated is frequent for looking deer and could be prohibited by C-21.

Seeing different looking rifles on the listing, just like the Webley & Scott wildfowl gun, additionally causes him concern.

While he stated he would not consider most Americans are tuned into Canadian politics sufficient to know what’s within the amendments, he worries about what may occur once they discover out.

“I’ve been doing this for 13 years. I’ve never had Americans coming up that have had an issue at the border, because the firearms they’re bringing are very legitimate, reasonable firearms to bring to hunt the species that they’re hunting,” he stated. 

He estimates that earlier than the pandemic, his American purchasers introduced roughly $100,000 US yearly to his business, Eastern Canadian Outfitters.

That buyer base has solely simply began to rebound, he stated.

In Quebec, 5,893 looking licences for all the things from black bear to wild turkey had been bought to non-residents within the 2021-2022 season, though the province would not monitor exactly the place these hunters lived.

In 2020-2021, 3,753 licences had been bought in Quebec, whereas 2019-2020 noticed gross sales of 8,308.

Federal Rural Economic Development Minister Gudie Hutchings, herself a gun proprietor, stated final week that she and Mendicino met with the Canadian Federation of Outfitter Associations, which confirmed a willingness to work with the federal government on the laws’s language.

She referred to as the outfitting sector “a billion-dollar industry in Canada.”

She stated that there is a “99.99 per cent … chance” that “if you have a lever, a bolt, a break action, a pump action, it’s your grandfather’s gun that you’ve had for years … that is not going to be impacted [by] this,” she stated. “We need to get the facts out.”

Americans provide practically half of northern Ontario’s looking income

The issues of outfitters like Clark and Argue are shared by Laurie Marcil, govt director of Nature and Outdoor Tourism Ontario, also referred to as the Northern Ontario Tourist Outfitters Association.

Her group represents the tourism pursuits of an enormous swath of northern Ontario previous North Bay — a lot of it a protracted drive from the American border.

Despite the federal government’s assurances, she stated she believes hunters will probably be hit by the proposed regulation. She additionally warns that Americans will hesitate about coming to Canada if C-21 turns into regulation because it’s written now.

She pointed to a report from 2014 that stated 12,000 American hunters contribute to northern Ontario’s economic system yearly. While that is solely 15 per cent of the entire variety of North American hunters spending time within the province’s north, the report says American hunters contribute $17.5 million to the area’s economic system — nearly half of the area’s whole looking income. 

Marcil stated northern Ontario wants their business.

“They buy everything here,” she stated. “So you’ve got grocery stores, gas stations, you’ve got the outfitters themselves and their businesses and their jobs that they’ve created.

“So it is a fairly all-encompassing influence that they’ve on these northern communities.”

According to more recent numbers from Ontario’s Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry, 6,871 non-residents had purchased at least one 2022 hunting licence as of Dec. 14.

In 2019 — before the pandemic — 11,284 non-residents purchased at least one hunting licence in Ontario.

The ministry told 24CA News that non-resident hunters are mainly American, although anyone who buys a licence and doesn’t reside in Ontario would be included. It said it didn’t have an estimate of how much those hunters contributed to the province’s economy.

It also did not include in those figures individuals who purchased a three-year small game licence in 2020 or 2021.

The ministry said it is unable to confirm whether those hunters actually travelled to the province — only that they purchased a licence.

Clark said many of New Brunswick’s lodges have suffered as a result of the pandemic, and the outfitters and guides he works with are seasonal workers.

Clark said attracting people from out of province means more than just money in outfitters’ pockets. Over the last three years, he said, workers in the industry have struggled and the average outfitter unlikely to qualify for government support programs.

He said the amendment to C-21 isn’t needed and represents another blow to the industry.

“Once [Americans] grow to be conscious of what is going on to be applied, then sure, it will be a huge impact,” he stated.