New Outdoors Caucus Association of Canada established

Ottawa, Ont., March 20, 2009 – Just over two years ago, Garry Breitkreuz, Conservative MP from Yorkton-Melville, Sask., launched a multi-party Outdoors Caucus composed of both MPs and senators. It quickly became the largest non-partisan caucus in Canadian history. Barry Turner, Ducks Unlimited Canada’s (DUC) Ottawa director of government relations, was invited to sit on an advisory committee to the caucus.

In February 2008, the caucus agreed to establish an arm’s-length independent body with a secretariat in Ottawa that could raise funds to help the Outdoors Caucus research needs and wants to better inform members, and all Canadians, about the ongoing challenges facing the heritage activities of hunting, sport fishing, trapping and shooting sports in Canada.

During the second annual breakfast on Parliament Hill this past February, the Outdoors Caucus Association of Canada was officially announced. It is modelled after the decades-old Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus in America, and is now registered as a not-for-profit organization after receiving generous legal assistance from the law firm Lang Michener in Toronto.

Turner is one of the three founding board members along with Phil Morlock, director, environmental affairs, Shimano Corporation, and Mike Reader, executive director, Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters. The board will soon expand to include key representation from across Canada.

For more information, contact:
Leigh Patterson, l_patterson@ducks.ca
Corporate Media Relations Specialist
Ducks Unlimited Canada
Tel: (204) 467-3306