Thank you, Madam Speaker. The fur lobby, Madam Speaker, is not a major issue for my constituency, but I have observed the battle for over 25 years and I have some suggestions to make. Madam Speaker, Pierre Daninos was a French writer who, during the 1950s, wrote some satirical books about the English. He invented a character called Major Thompson and used him as a target for all things he found really strange about English people. One thing Daninos found strange was that in Major Thompson's country, animals have a far higher status than people. To illustrate his thought he noted that there was a royal society for the prevention of cruelty to animals, but there was only a national society for the prevention of cruelty to children. In other words, there was royal protection for cats and dogs, but not for kids. I urge this government to use a similar critical approach when it next meets the animal rights activists in Europe.
We have learned that the Dutch, for example, kill 750,000 muskrats a year because they poke holes in their dykes. They throw the carcasses over the dykes into the sea. It could be pointed out that what the Dutch consider a pest and nuisance to be destroyed and discarded is a valuable source of meat and clothing for people in the western Arctic. Mr. Kakfwi told me this anecdote and I believe he has used it to good advantage in the past. I am sure we could find many other examples of destroying animals which is a source of embarrassment to Europeans.
The fur lobby has an almost impossible fight on its hands, in my opinion, against the activists in Europe. Attempts to engender sympathy for the aboriginal way of life have not, in my opinion, been very successful. In fact, many people would argue we would be better off spending our money trying to develop markets somewhere else where that battle doesn't have to be fought. What needs to be attacked is the hypocrisy of many European states that are quick to criticize others, but are blind to their own shortcomings. I urge the Premier to recognize that most of these battles against animal rights activists have, in fact, been lost and all you can do is extend the battle another year or two. If she wants to help extend the war for another year or so, she needs to be tougher and smarter than the vast body of activists lined up against her. I urge this government to take, within this next expedition, aboriginal people who will risk the unpleasantness -- and I mean that, unpleasantness -- with a strong stand. The success of the mission will then be judged by what a miserable time everyone had when they went.