Thank you, Madam Speaker. Today I would like to express my concern about the fur industry. I know the Minister responsible has been to Brussels and Strasbourg and has been telling us the situation we find ourselves in as a result of leghold trap regulations from the European Parliament that we have tried to abide by.

Through research, Madam Speaker, I found out in the last four years the Government of the Northwest Territories has spent about $900,000 to buy about 70,000 quick kill traps. These traps were exchanged in the north. Further, there was about $1 million spent in workshops to train the trappers in how to use these new methods of trapping. In all, there is about $1.9 million spent to date on complying with the regulations established in Europe.

I am told there is an NWT fur strategy being developed, as a result of a study that was done last year. I just hope that instead of continuing to spend money to comply with the European Parliament regulations, this government sees fit to try to establish the fur industry in the north by developing a plan of action on how to process the furs in the north, so we can have a northern fur industry. I know our furs in the north have been sent down south to be mixed with the southern furs, which I hear are not as good quality as our northern furs. Therefore, the price of our furs has dropped to bring the price in the south up. In the long run, our trappers are losing out.

We should be focusing on doing it ourselves instead of depending solely on the European market to buy our furs. I would like to stress to the Minister to look into this area in developing an NWT fur strategy. Mahsi, Madam Speaker.

---Applause