On that issue, the federal government will, through the various departments, have to recognize its responsibility to defend the hunt as a legitimate activity and also the hunters who are accredited to participate in it. It will also have to recognize that it has a responsibility to defend its own methods and policies for managing the seal herds.
As soon as the government recognizes that it has this responsibility, it will have to participate as much as possible in the local efforts to justify the hunt in the eyes of national and international public opinion.
We have seen over the years that the government is almost entirely absent every time a predictable event happens, like the autumn winds in the Magdalen Islands. Every March, someone arrives in a helicopter and sullies the reputation of the hunters and, by that very fact, that of the Canadian government. Every time, we turn to the government, which is nowhere to be found. It is so predictable.
We wonder why the Canadian government does not make the necessary efforts or does not have the means to counter the disinformation by using the same methods as these anti-hunt or animal rights activist groups who have an organized and coordinated strategy. This is a long-term strategy. We can proceed one step at a time. Once the government has recognized its responsibilities, it should be easy, with the means it has at its disposal, to take the necessary action.