Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I would like to tell the Legislative Assembly about my trip this week to Europe and Brussels, Belgium, to speak at the conference on Responsible Wildlife Resource Management, held November 29 and 30, in the European Parliament. Accompanying me, was the deputy minister of Renewable Resources, Mr. Joe Handley.

The conference was organized by the European Bureau on Conservation and Development. This non-profit organization supports the concept of sustainable use of resources. The conference was intended to provide an opportunity for Members of the European Parliament to hear from those responsible for wildlife management throughout the world. Participants came from Europe, Africa, Greenland, Australia, United States and Canada, all with an interest of maintaining trade in renewable resource products with Europe. This conference was especially important to us, in the Northwest Territories, because 85 per cent of wild fur is sold to the European market.

People we met and talked with include, Members of the European Parliament, representatives of non-governmental organizations including animal welfare groups, and officials from various governments within the European Parliament.

The European Parliament is a big organization which is very complex, with elected representatives from most of the European countries, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Greece, Switzerland and Austria. Each country has representatives, through their allotment of Members of the European Parliament. The parliament reviews laws and regulations proposed by the European Commission, which is like our civil service. The top decision-making body is the European Council of Ministers, who take advice from the European Parliament before passing the laws and regulations which set out agreements on economic, cultural and political interests of their common goal. Each country, while being independent, agrees to cooperate in ways that satisfy the interests of their constituents.

The European Council of Ministers, the European Parliament and the European Commission are continually lobbied by interest groups which are against the harvest of furs and so forth. The fur industry is of particular interest to European Parliament, largely because of the lobby efforts by animal welfare and animal rights groups. These groups are active in each country and have been effective in reminding Members of the European Parliament that unless animal rights legislation is passed, with humane trapping, the politicians will face consequences, in their constituency, during their next election.

Mr. Speaker, may I ask consent to finish my statement?