Mr. Chair, in terms of the suggested taxation issue that the minister raised on the floor of the House of Commons in the middle of an important debate on the future of the seal fishery, I would ask the minister in return, why did her government and her party promise during the election campaign to eliminate the excise tax, or at least cut it in half, on diesel fuel, but yet she stands for supporting it and maintaining it? The Conservatives have indeed denounced that particular platform in their policy.
I hope tonight's debate does not devolve into the nonsense we have heard so often from the party opposite. I hope this is a high profile, high spirited and highly intellectual debate where we actually discuss the issues and come up with solutions to the problem.
In the context of the seal hunt and northerners, is she concerned that the minister said on Tom Clark's program that this proposed seal ban will negatively affect aboriginal populations in the north? The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans said that it should have a clouding, poisonous impact on the Canada-E.U. trade negotiations which will occur tomorrow, but the minister herself still agrees that those negotiations should continue. How does that make the hon. member and the minister feel?