Province freezing hunting fees, drops service fee

Natural resources minister announces freeze at Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters

The Ontario government has frozen hunting licence fees for all Ontario residents and removed a $2 service fee on hunting licence renewals and applications.

Natural Resources and Forestry Minister John Yakabuski was in Peterborough on Thursday morning at the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters’ Mario Coretellucci Hunting and Fishing Heritage Centre to explain the changes.

“That represents a savings of $1.6 million to Ontario hunters and it builds upon our earlier announcement where we froze fishing licence fees as well,” Yakabuski told reporters.

In addition to freezing fees, the province has updated hunting regulations to make things better for hunters across the province. These changes include a new Licence Summary that can be stored on a mobile device or printed at home, paper tags that replace the old game seals and enhanced hunter reporting.

“The hunting industry contributes nearly half a billion dollars to the Ontario economy,” Yakabuski stated. “Our hunters are some of the best stewards of our lands and waters and we want to make it easier for them to enjoy our world class natural resources.”

The Ontario government also recently froze fishing licence fees and added two new licence-free fishing events in 2019 on the weekends of Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.

“Altogether we are putting more than $4 million back into the pockets of anglers and hunters this year,” Yakabuski told reporters.

Yakabuski was joined by Peterborough-Kawartha MPP Dave Smith for Thursday’s announcement.

“One of the things that most people don’t recognize is the actual economic impact that we have in this community from our hunters and our anglers and everyone who is involved in the wildlife,” Smith told reporters.

NOTE: Ontario government information on hunting rules is at www.ontario.ca/page/hunting and information on fishing rules is at www.ontario.ca/fishing.