This is a battle for the hearts of people; we therefore have to fight for the hearts as well. It's another approach. We are dealing with tourism. We need tourism on the Magdalen Islands, but we are at the point where we have to review everything to see whether, in fact, tourism is indeed a good thing. It's an irritant. That even holds true for the slide show I saw this morning at the open air centre. The first time I saw it, I wasn't really sure about it. Someone from the other group talked to me about it and told me that it felt strange to him to see images of the hunt and whitecoats. For the hunters, the whitecoats have become something like a tumour which they must drag around. This tumour has already become a cancer.
That is why I question the idea of tourism. We have to look at the situation all together to see whether the hunt should be conducted and presented differently, so we can save it. As I said in my presentation, it is five minutes to midnight and we must act. We are pleased that you are here to talk about this situation and to examine every aspect of it. In fact, that is something I have already done. I have asked myself why I am still a hunter at 66 years of age. I tried to determine what impact tourism has had on the herd. Today, I take a holistic approach to nature, which includes the hunt and tourism. Everyone has their rights, but there also has to be a balance.
The IFAW and the Humane Society have made millions of dollars off of the hunt. We nearly lost a generation of hunters because of those who wish to abolish the hunt. My three sons hunt with me. They are 34, 36 and 42 years old. Three years ago, I had to show them where they could not go on the ice because otherwise they would fall into the water. I started hunting at the age of 12. I grew up doing this. I would be curious to find out at what age people begin hunting these days. It certainly won't be 14 or 15 years. These are all things I wonder about today.
As for tourism, are we doing the right thing? Perhaps, but the question has to be asked. Is tourism a good thing or a bad thing? The issue should be studied, but it will not be a small association made up of people with only a Grade 7 education who will be able to analyze all the ins and outs of the situation. We need a committee created specifically to study this matter, and with government support, to examine the situation from every point of view. There is work to be done, and it must be done by competent people.
I am a hunter, a professional whitecoat hunter. I do not think that I should sit on such a committee, but there are competent people who could.