Cuts at the Ministry of Natural Resources have:

• Eliminated the Ontario Ranger Program

• Reduced the number of Ontario Parks for overnight camping

• Reduced the government’s ability to get out emergency information about forest fires to the public

• Reduced the government’s ability to prevent bear attacks

• Reduced the government’s involvement in local stewardship councils.

Since 2011, 143 jobs have been chopped, 118 of them seasonal employees. 230 student positions have been slashed as a result of the elimination of the much-loved and respected Ontario Ranger Program. The government promised it would replace the summer work experience program in which 17 year-olds lived in Ontario Ranger camps mostly in remote locations with a day youth employment program. No follow-up announcement has been made.

The MNR has been ordered by the government to cut 10 per cent of its budget by 2015 or $70 million. The Ministry has said it will close an undisclosed number of field offices in the next two years.