The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has handed out its infamous annual hardware targeting wasteful government spending.
Parks Canada was nominated for spending $800,000 to kill 84 deer over the course of 10 days during a cull on Sidney Island in early December 2023.
The Federation says bills spiralled when Parks Canada paid American and New Zealand sharpshooters to circle the island in a helicopter.
"The craziest part of this story is that local hunters harvested dozens of deer at no cost to taxpayers." said Carson Binda, CTF B.C. Director. "But Parks Canada decided to spend close to a million dollars to bring in foreign sharpshooters."
The federation adds that 63 of the 84 animals killed were the wrong species.
Parks Canada has reached out to CFAX1070, stating the deer dispatched by species were: 63 fallow deer, 18 black-tailed deer and 3 unconfirmed.
In the provincial government waste category, the B.C. government received a nomination for spending more than $150 million on VIP suites, a VIP stadium entrance and a walkway to the casino for wealthy soccer fans to watch a handful of World Cup matches.
In the federal government waste category, Vancouver Centre MP Hedy Fry was nominated for billing taxpayers almost $600,000 for luxury hotel rooms that sat empty because half the delegates either didn't show up or didn't stay there.