The federal government has cancelled a tender for a study on the environmental impact of lead shot and bullets.
The tender was issued earlier this month by Environment Canada, but immediately ran into opposition.
“We are pleased that the federal government cancelled this exercise in futility, which had no basis in merit and would have been a significant waste of taxpayer dollars,” said Greg Farrant, manager of government affairs and policy with the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters.
Paul Calandra, parliamentary secretary to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, too, called it a waste of taxpayers’ dollars when he addressed the House of Commons. He also said that the government will continue to support hunters and sport shooters.
“We know that the Liberals and the NDP probably would have continued this study on the grounds that the environmental impact of bullets on the forest floor would have been a good pretext for onerous environmental restrictions on the use of bullets,” Calandra told the Commons. “And they probably would bring back the long gun registry.”
In announcing the tender for the study, Environment Canada said it would have looked at the impact of regulations on lead shot.
“In 1995, ammunitions were estimated to have contributed to releasing over 1,000 tonnes of lead in the Canadian environment; however regulations that entered into force in 1997 were expected to address half of these releases,” the department said.
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I don’t care about politics with this issue. if lead bullets cause environmental damage, then it’s bad for hunters, period. I’m not interested in knee jerk reaction to this, if the science says its no good, then it’s no good.