 Alberta Hansard Tuesday, March 09, 2010 | Question Period - Grizzly Bear Management
The Speaker: The hon. Member for Calgary-Buffalo, followed by the hon. Member for Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood. Mr. Hehr: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In 2002 the Endangered Species Conservation Committee recommended that the grizzly be listed as a threatened species. The government ignored this recommendation. Given that there are fewer than 700 grizzlies left in Alberta, my spider sense tells me that these experts will recommend this again on Friday at the minister’s scheduled meeting. To the Minister of Sustainable Resource Development: given that experts state that the grizzly bear is a threatened species, why won’t this minister simply list it as such? Mr. Knight: Well, that’s an interesting observation that the member opposite has made. My recollection of what’s going to happen here, Mr. Speaker, is that there is a committee that will meet on the 12th of March, and at that point a decision will be made. To my knowledge no decision has been made other than what some folks might have put in the papers or other places, that individuals read and then presume that something is going to happen. I will wait, appropriately, until the 12th of March, until our committee has made the determination and given me a report, and then we will respond. The Speaker: The hon. member. Mr. Hehr: Well, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess I misheard the minister last night when I thought he said that he wasn’t going to list the grizzly bear as an endangered species. I guess, then, my return question: if this committee, the Endangered Species Conservation Committee, again recommends to you that it should be listed as an endangered species, will you take their advice after their meeting on the 12th? Mr. Knight: Mr. Speaker, it is not my position now nor will it be in the next few days to list any species in Alberta as endangered. We have a process. The gentleman is asking a question now relative to something that went on in estimates last night: a point blank question if I was going to say that bears are endangered in Alberta. I was not prepared last night to say that, and I’m not prepared this afternoon to say that. The Speaker: The hon. member. Mr. Hehr: Well, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess that estimates is where we have open and candid discussions with a minister. At least, I think that’s the process. Last night, again taking the minister at his word, he said that he wasn’t in a position to put a moratorium on harvesting bears. If the minister is not in a position to put a moratorium on hunting bears, then who is? Mr. Knight: Mr. Speaker, I guess I’m going to have to go through this again. We have a process in place. We have a grizzly bear recovery program in place, and I’m going to let that process work. Once we receive the information from the committee, we’ll be in a better position to be able to determine what the status of this species is in the province of Alberta. At that point we will deal with the issue.  |
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