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March 14, 2007
Letter to
the Editor
Hélène Scott, President OPSEU Local 611 -
www.wawa-news.com
Dear Editor:
This letter is a follow-up to the “Save the MNR”
bake sale that took place on February 24th at
Canadian Tire.
Our OPSEU union, Local 611, decided to hold this
event as we felt that many citizens in our
community and surrounding area are unaware of
just how deep the budget cuts have been at the
Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) in the last
few years. The cuts have been particularly hard
on Ontario’s provincial parks and Enforcement
staff. After all the cuts and many years of
having to do “more with less”, we are at an
impasse.
As a way of bringing this issue to the public,
many other local unions across the province have
held similar bake sales, garage sales, bottle
drive, BBQ fundraiser to help put some gas in
the MNR vehicles.
It is pretty sad when a community group has to
dish out money so they can have Conservation
Officers attend functions such as a fishing
derby. Well this is the case, and it is going on
across the province.
We realize that people who take more than their
share of our resources are not going to support
any of our efforts. We do, however, have the
support of many other citizens who are very
concerned with the fact that MNR is not
protecting Ontario’s natural resources, as it
should. There will be repercussions in the
future from people taking more fish than their
legal limit or hunting out of season or without
a licence or to programs within our provincial
parks. Will your children or grandchildren have
the opportunity to go hunting or fishing? Will
they be able to catch a fish or hunt
successfully or will the resources have been
depleted?
The purpose of our various union fundraisers is
to ask the current government to restore funding
to the MNR so we can get back to the business of
managing and protecting Ontario’s natural
resources. We raised $239.15 at our bake sale.
We would like to present a cheque in this amount
to Mike Brown, MPP and ask him to put it towards
the MNR’s budget to help restore some of our
funding. Should he not be able to accept this
cheque, we will donate the money to a local
charity.
We encourage all members of the public to visit
our website to see how the MNR has been
affected. You can also show your support by
signing an on-line petition.
For those who attended our bake sale and signed
our petition, we truly appreciate your support!
We could not have done it without the support of
Canadian Tire (Allen & his staff) and JJAM FM
(Rick) and our many bakers.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any
questions or concerns.
Hélène Scott, President OPSEU Local 611 - Wawa
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