"Our biggest concern related to these two pieces of legislation was the lack of any consultation process with the general public," said Mr. Grimes. "Many traditional snowmobilers have expressed outrage and concern with the prospect they will be expected to pay fees to use groomed trails this year. We have raised many questions related to the process of determining these fees without any answers being given. Unfortunately, government was not interested in listening to our concerns or the concerns of snowmobilers. With their decision to invoke closure, this flawed piece of legislation is now the law in this province.

"We also had significant concerns with government’s decision to invoke closure on Bill 61. Once again, without any consultation with the people of the province, this government decided to pass a piece of legislation that is of concern to many people. The legislation was only tabled on Monday to ensure very limited debate. We asked government to delay passage of this Bill until the spring session of the House to ensure they had a reasonable period of time to consult the public. Unfortunately, they refused any consultation and this legislation has also become law.

"For a government that continuously states they are open and accountable, invoking closure is a very heavy-handed way to pass legislation. This decision ensured that very limited debate took place on both pieces of legislation and passed without the full analysis and scrutiny of the people of the province. This is just another example that demonstrates this government is not open, not accountable and certainly not transparent."