Thank you, Madam Speaker. I am glad that his department has finally contacted the association's executive director to start working on this initiative. Could I ask has the Minister indicated to his officials the time frame within which this review is going to take place?

Madam Speaker, out of the thousands of pages of briefing notes that I have around me, I can't find the proper one. The meeting that the Member is referring to was a technical committee set up by the member countries of an organization called the International Standards Organization, which has about 120 countries belonging to it. The technical committee was struck to come up with some draft standards they could recommend to the full membership on what would be acceptable standards for quick kill and humane traps.

The work has been done over the period of the last few years and it is particularly political because, in my view, many of the member countries -- what some of the Europeans called the Anglo-Saxon countries -- are particularly strong about protecting wildlife. Having very little left themselves, they have -- perhaps out of guilt -- taken the view that everything should be saved in the world and people like ourselves should be prevented from using any more wildlife that we have in our country.

These countries spearheaded the movement to try to wipe out the fur industry a few years ago. It has, for instance, led to the boycott of baby seal pelts being imported into European countries. They, in fact, killed the market for seal pelts internationally. It was their view that by setting these high standards for trapping, none of the countries, including Canada, could meet the demands that the European Parliament set out. And, that we would fall far short of the mark and therefore, trapping would be wiped out.

In fact, we've surprised them with our own determination. Research into trapping methods had been going on long before the Europeans clicked on to that particular fad. What has been happening recently is that many of these countries, with their activists, have started lobbying to suggest that no standards or traps are acceptable at all. They are changing the rules in the middle of the game and we've objected to that. I think what has happened in this particular meeting in Ottawa is that some of the animal rights activists have moved in from Europe and parts of Canada and the US to lobby against any type of standards being adopted and put forward for recommendation to the full membership of the International Standards Organization.

So, rather than taking a chance on losing the vote at this time, some of the countries have asked to defer the vote. They will be meeting with Foreign Affairs Ministers and Trade Ministers of respective countries to ensure there is some certainty to the way in which the vote will take place in the next few months. Thank you.

Madam Speaker, countries like the US and Russia are all subject to the regulations that the European Parliament passed some years ago. It is my understanding that all countries are putting forward the argument that they are making significant effort and are showing some progress in meeting the conditions set out in the European regulations and that they all will be applying for a one year extension. In Canada, it is my expectation that the federal government, through the trade Minister and through External Affairs, will be making some moves to elevate this issue to a major trade issue and taking it up with the respective governments within the European community in the next few weeks. Thank you.

Madam Speaker, the European Parliament is a fairly new political body that some people have suggested is still searching for some reason for its existence. They are a Parliament that debates a great many issues. For instance, when I was there, one of their committees was discussing, at great length, what would be acceptable standards for the transportation of animals. For instance, how long an animal should be allowed to stand, what distance may be covered and the type of environment these animals should have when being transported, whether half a mile is an acceptable distance to be transported, et cetera. They also discussed rhinoceros horns, although we know there aren't any in Europe and haven't been for thousands of years, they spend a great time talking about these things. I am suggesting some of the issues they discuss...I have told them they have difficulty in focusing and very often make decisions that years later they find have had all types of implications, which they have tried to ignore.

What happens is they make their decisions and then it is up to the European Commission, which is a commission of very powerful civil servants who are appointed and forwarded by the member countries to carry out this work that the European Parliament passes. As I understand it, in this case, the one year extension is the prerogative of the commission to decide what is significant progress and on what basis, terms and conditions under which countries should be qualified, if at all, to be considered for a one year extension.

When I met with the main Commissioner involved, he advised me that one of his underlings, a man named Weinstaeker, who is reported by some other sources to be a very avid, fanatical animal rights activist, was the civil servant who was going to decide whether or not there was a basis to go forward with the recommendation to the Commissioner. There are some of us who are praying that there is some objectivity left with the individuals involved. The civil servants and the bureaucracy have been well infiltrated by the animal rights activists. In this case, we know that it is not an objective setting at all, but perhaps the man is very professional and will disregard his own very personal biases and forward what we think is a very legitimate cause, since it is their own regulation. Hopefully, they will accept that there is a lot of substance in arguing that Canada has made significant progress in working towards meeting the demands of the European Parliament and the regulations they set out and that they will give us the one year extension that the regulations say can be given. Thank you.