Valais: A Distorted Understanding of Democracy
Despite the rejection of the revised hunting law, Valais is pressing ahead with its cantonal initiative against predators. The Grand Council has entered into debate.
In Valais, the cantonal initiative «For a Canton of Valais Without Large Predators» remains on the table despite the federal rejection of the revised hunting law.
On Monday, the Grand Council voted to enter into debate on the legislative text. The Valais cantonal parliament is the first to revisit the wolf issue following the vote. The public is to vote again.
The decision was passed with 105 votes in favour, 19 against, and one abstention. The centre-right parties emphasised the importance of «listening to the citizens», who had accepted the hunting law by a large majority, while the left denounced the text as “misleading.”
The majority of Valais deputies thus share the position of the State Council, which supports the initiative and intends to submit it to the public with a recommendation to vote in favour. The cantonal government takes the view that it is important for the population to be able to express its opinion on the issue — and this only a few weeks after the vote on the hunting law and wolf protection.
Since wolves are territorial animals, there can never really be an unbearable number of wolves in any given area, as young wolves disperse across cantonal and national borders in search of a new territory roughly the size of the Canton of Zug.
“No Fundamental Change”
A yes vote on the cantonal initiative would not fundamentally alter the current or future situation for predators in the canton. Moreover, the canton has little room to manoeuvre when it comes to establishing a cantonal concept for large carnivores.
This is how time and money are wasted in the Canton of Valais. Instead of addressing real problems, a pointless initiative is being put to the public that will achieve nothing. These politicians should be ashamed of themselves for leading the people of Valais around by the nose like this. It is thanks to these individuals that the people of Valais are barely further along with herd protection than they were 20 years ago.
The cantonal initiative for a Valais free of large predators (wolf, lynx, bear) was launched in 2016 by a dozen Upper Valaisans and several CVP and CSP politicians. It was submitted in January 2017 with 9,545 signatures, 3,545 more than required.
In January 2017, the State Council referred the initiative to the Grand Council. After a preliminary review and amendment of the text, the popular initiative was declared valid by the deputies in September 2019.
A renewed emotional debate angered Benoît Barras of the Left Alliance group. "It is a disgrace that we have to discuss this topic again." The opinions were well known and the initiative would change nothing.It was only about keeping the wolf issue in the spotlight and emotions running high, said Barras.This was leading to a division within the population.
The divide between the population of Switzerland and the canton of Valais would only grow wider, said Emmanuel Revaz of the Greens. The party not only wants to recommend rejecting the initiative — it wants it declared invalid.The criticism: the process had been misleading.
Restriction and regulation
The text calls for the inclusion of a new article in the cantonal constitution reading:
The state shall enact regulations for protection against large predators and for the restriction and regulation of their population. The promotion of large predator populations is prohibited.
Text of the initiative “For a Canton of Valais without large predators”:
On 27 September, the revised Hunting Act had been rejected by 51.9 percent of Swiss voters. The Valais electorate, however, voted 68.6 percent in favour of the law, which was intended to ease protections for wolves.
