mark270wsm,
I have added your OP for some context. I am not sure where you got yoru information about the OHEP being $300. I have found a course instructor in Barrie which has the OHEP for $150. If you decide to take the Canadian Firearm Saftey Course with the same instructor/course, the course is bumped up to $250. All three courses (Hunter Ed, CFSC, and the restricted course puts you in the range of $375). This is according to the instructors website: http://www.hunters-course.ca/
Now the way I see it, for two (or three) courses (considering one course is provincial and one (or two) course is federal), that is a more than fair price. I use to work at a company which designed blast furnaces and the company gave me the opportunity to attend a Blast Furnace Ironmaking course (there is a link from last year's course:http://mcmasteel.mcmaster.ca/bfcours...chure_2012.pdf). The cost of the course (40 hours) is $1750 (the price is on the brochure) per person. I am not sure if you have ever looked into continuing your education at a post-secondary school (night classes, online classes, etc) but considering the fees for the class can run past $300 (that is simply what the class costs to attend then you have to go and purchase your own course material for those classes), I believe the hunter's ed is priced relatively well.
Dyth