Parks Canada deer cull costs under fire from taxpayer group

When Parks Canada hired a team of helicopter born sharp shooters to kill invasive deer on Sydney Island, we heard from many who were worried that the plan was dangerous and inhumane. Can I give you a copy of our hand? Though now another voice says it's not just an ethical controversy, but a financial one as well. It's appalling for Parks Canada to be blowing $12 million on a project that local hunters have been doing for a decade. For free. That's Carson Binda from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. He says an access to information request revealed that Ottawa is planning to spend almost $12 million to complete the project, about double the figure that had previously been known. Parks Canada has dreamed up the most expensive way imaginable of hunting these deer. So we have ocean spray, salal, native roses. Canada hoped that by eradicating hundreds of deer, they can restore the ecosystem back to the way it was before the European deer arrived. The plan has the support of biologists, First Nations and the SPCA, though some Islanders felt it was excessive. I think we've been quite hoodwinked. In fact, I don't think we've been told the truth about what Parks Canada was planning to do. We asked Parks Canada about the figures cited by the taxpayers group, but didn't hear back in time for this report. One particular irritant, it appears, is that in years past, Islanders themselves organized hunts that killed hundreds of deer with no bill to the taxpayer, let alone a $12 million one. When debt interest costs are costing more for the federal government than they're sending to the provinces for healthcare, it's unacceptable for the federal government to be engaged in these kinds of cost overruns. Paul Johnson. Global News.