You know, there's an old saying: keep it simple, stupid—referring to me, of course.
As I said, these occupations are traditions in this country. So it's our heritage. As I previously said, it's up to us to build on this. This is not designed to just be, as one of our members of Parliament told me, a hot dog day—as in everybody wants a day for everything.
If you just think about it—and by looking at your facial expressions, I think most of you do get it—this is about the very nature of our country. This is about why we are, about who we are. It is those occupations—hunting, fishing, and trapping—that actually are the Canadian reality today. It's up to us. I'm hoping this is the beginning, that it stimulates conversation, stimulates us as legislators. Because it has happened provincially. Most of the regulatory regimes around these occupations are provincially mandated. I think what I, as a federal legislator, have done is recognize that importance. Provincial legislatures have already done so. I believe now we have four provinces—and it could be going on to five—that have a similar day.
We can encourage new Canadians. This is about the changing face of Canada, and having new Canadians also become part of that great Canadian story of western Europeans. Now we have people from all around the world who are Canadian. I look around this room. Most of us in this room don't represent the reality of Canada. Canada is changing. The people who come to our country are here because of those traditions that are of value to Canadians—hunting, fishing, and trapping; enjoying the outdoors.
We have such a huge country. Again, as I tell high school students, the population of Canada and the gross domestic product of Canada, the second-largest country in the world land-wise, is equal to the state of California. We've lots of room to grow, but we have lots of opportunities to protect our wildlife and to make sure it's there for new Canadians, as well as our children and our grandchildren. This heritage day is designed to wake us up to that reality and allow legislators like you and me to do something more about it. I don't want this to die. I don't want this to be just a day that's buried in some parliamentary...where the only people who remember it are the people in this room who dealt with it as part of our careers as politicians. It's up to us to do something about it.
I'm doing my part. I belong to organizations that are conservation-minded. As I said in debate at second reading, hunting, fishing, and trapping are embedded in my family's DNA. I have first nations in my blood. I'm so proud of that. I represent a true Canadian family. My mom's French Canadian; my dad is fourth-generation Polish Canadian. We're enjoying those things.
We all have a part to play in this. This is just the beginning, Jim, of what I think we can do. Or we can simply say it's a nice day to celebrate our heritage, and forget about it. But it's up to you and me to do something more. If you ask me what more can we do, I'm going to suggest what more can you do, what more can we all do to make sure that those things we have of value...? This is a family occupation to me; this is important to me personally. That's why I chose this. I said, how can I do something that will unite? Everything about this place is politically driven. We all know that. But how can I unite us all into one thing that means something to each of us, that crosses party lines, crosses racial lines, religious lines?
It just makes a lot of common sense, doesn't it?