Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Madam Chairperson, for the humane trap development, could we hear what is being done in that area? The trappers, a lot of the older trappers complain that the newer humane traps are too bulky

and too difficult to use. Could we get an indication of what is happening in this area please?

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Madam Chairperson, under humane trap development we have a grant of $5,000. That is a grant that is available to inventors working on the development of humane trapping devices. The money is applied for at times, I do not recall whether it was applied for last year, but it will be available again in this coming year. In terms of trap development, we do not do trap development in our department.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Madam Chairperson, if the deputy minister would be so kind could he perhaps explain what is happening in that area even though his department is not responsible for developing humane traps.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Madam Chairperson, I am not 100 percent sure what is happening across the country in that. There is a trap research station in Alberta near Vegreville that is doing some work on testing various traps that people submit. The Fur Institute of Canada is active in prompting humane trapping. The federal government has also prompted it. I suspect in fact the National Research Council may even be doing some work on various forms of trapping. Quite frankly, I do not know all that is going on in trap research. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Madam Chairperson, under the furs, could the Minister or the deputy minister indicate how the Fur Pricing Program works?

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Madam Chairperson, the Fur Pricing Program is a program where we provide support to trappers to ensure they have a minimum price for selected species of fur. This is to ensure that trappers can continue to find that occupation viable. The program is managed out of our regional offices. Trappers bring their fur in. If the fur is of good quality, they are guaranteed a minimum price. We essentially supplement them based on the set minimum price against the sale price for that particular piece of fur. I do not have the exact amounts of the minimum price for each of the species but it was started in 1995 and in the western Arctic it covers muskrats, beavers. There was no need to have it for martin and I am not sure of exactly all the species. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Madam Chairperson, so once the government gets those furs, what do they do with them?

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Madam Chairperson, the furs are the property of the trapper. We will handle the fur in the sense of packing it and sending it off to auction house on their behalf if they ask us to. On the other hand, a trapper can sell it to a buyer in the Northwest Territories or wherever they like. We provide the service for them and we also give them the price guarantee but the fur is always theirs. We do not buy it from them.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Madam Chairperson, I believe it was last year the department had moved to get better fur prices and I believe that they had hired someone down south to work in this area or something. Could the Minister or the deputy minister explain what they have done in this area and if it has worked?

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Madam Chairperson, we have made available to the trappers an option where they can have their furs marketed through a company in Montreal. The company has assured us that they would provide at least 15 percent improvement over what the auction houses have historically been paying. They are able to do this because they are taking the fur that they get and marketing it as northern furs and northern furs are known around the world as being better quality. We do not have all the information yet from this past trapping season to know whether or not they have achieved those targets, but again I emphasize that it is up to each trapper whether or not they participate in the program.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Madam Chairperson, could the deputy minister indicate again how much they have been assured that they would be able to get, an extra amount of 15 percent did he say, or 25 percent, I just did not get that?

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Madam Chairperson, they told me they would receive 15 percent more than the average market auction house price.