The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has called on Parks Canada to "get its spending under control" after it was revealed that the department has spent thousands trying to capture and kill American bullfrogs in the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve.Since 2018, over $10,000 has been dumped into the project, however very few frogs have been caught..According to the CTF, in 2018-19 Parks Canada spent $1,920 on the program, but failed to kill a single frog. Another $2,000 was spent the following year, with similar results.During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, Parks Canada pressed pause, but started right up again in 2021-22. Despite pouring an additional $2,207 into the effort, every frog in the park escaped unscathed. In 2022-23, Parks Canada spent $3,882 and killed one frog. The department's luck changed in 2023-24, during which time 100 frogs were killed at a cost of $5,079. All told, each dead frog has cost taxpayers roughly $149."Kids catch frogs for free, but Parks Canada managed to spend several years and thousands of tax dollars before it even managed to catch one frog," CTF BC Director Carson Binda said in a press release. "Did Parks Canada put Wile E. Coyote in charge of this operation?"He noted that, "the frogs appear to be slipping through the fingers of Parks Canada bureaucrats just as fast as our hard-earned tax dollars,", adding, "Parks Canada keeps proving it’s horrible at hunting, but great at wasting taxpayer-money.".Binda explained that this was far from the only ineffective culling effort undertaken by Parks Canada over the past few years. Records obtained by the CTF showed that the department spent $2.6 million since 2018 on hunts targeting multiple species of fish, as well as moose, deer, doves, foxes, frogs, and rats.The most high-profile of these culls was the Sidney Island deer hunt in BC, which saw the government spend over $800,000 to kill 84 deer. As Binda pointed out, local hunters organized their own hunt, and managed to shoot 54 "at no cost to the taxpayer."He went on to question why Parks Canada had employed marksmen from New Zealand and the United States when there appeared to be perfectly capable candidates right here at home.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has called on Parks Canada to "get its spending under control" after it was revealed that the department has spent thousands trying to capture and kill American bullfrogs in the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve.Since 2018, over $10,000 has been dumped into the project, however very few frogs have been caught..According to the CTF, in 2018-19 Parks Canada spent $1,920 on the program, but failed to kill a single frog. Another $2,000 was spent the following year, with similar results.During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, Parks Canada pressed pause, but started right up again in 2021-22. Despite pouring an additional $2,207 into the effort, every frog in the park escaped unscathed. In 2022-23, Parks Canada spent $3,882 and killed one frog. The department's luck changed in 2023-24, during which time 100 frogs were killed at a cost of $5,079. All told, each dead frog has cost taxpayers roughly $149."Kids catch frogs for free, but Parks Canada managed to spend several years and thousands of tax dollars before it even managed to catch one frog," CTF BC Director Carson Binda said in a press release. "Did Parks Canada put Wile E. Coyote in charge of this operation?"He noted that, "the frogs appear to be slipping through the fingers of Parks Canada bureaucrats just as fast as our hard-earned tax dollars,", adding, "Parks Canada keeps proving it’s horrible at hunting, but great at wasting taxpayer-money.".Binda explained that this was far from the only ineffective culling effort undertaken by Parks Canada over the past few years. Records obtained by the CTF showed that the department spent $2.6 million since 2018 on hunts targeting multiple species of fish, as well as moose, deer, doves, foxes, frogs, and rats.The most high-profile of these culls was the Sidney Island deer hunt in BC, which saw the government spend over $800,000 to kill 84 deer. As Binda pointed out, local hunters organized their own hunt, and managed to shoot 54 "at no cost to the taxpayer."He went on to question why Parks Canada had employed marksmen from New Zealand and the United States when there appeared to be perfectly capable candidates right here at home.
