NORTH BAY — Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli says “The Liberal government has failed to properly inform Ontarians about changes they’ve made to the delivery of hunting and fishing licensing services”.
“We’re getting calls from people wondering why their licences and cards are coming from Tennessee,” said Fedeli. “They’re very confused and clearly the Ministry of Natural Resources hasn’t properly explained this”.
In May, PC Natural Resources Critic Laurie Scott (Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock) revealed that a Tennessee company was awarded a major government contract to manage hunting and fishing licensing data when the province moved to its electronic system in January.
“There are significant increases in the cost of postage due to everything being mailed from the U.S.,” noted Fedeli. “But the most common question we’re being asked is with so many people out of work in Ontario, why can’t this work be done here?”
“It also still isn’t clear what steps the Minister of Natural Resources has taken to safeguard the privacy of information of 750,000 Ontarians collected through licensing of anglers and hunters”, Fedeli added.
“There are still concerns that this personal information is technically subject to the Patriot Act and can be potentially accessed by U.S. government officials,” Fedeli said, noting “The Minister has so far failed to respond to a request to see the contract and any provisions it may contain to safeguard personal information”.
“It is paramount that the privacy rights of Ontarians are being protected, and the Minister needs to explain how”.