As I said a little earlier, 6 plus 18 equals 24, just as 23 plus 1 equals 24. According to our analysis, it is better to have a six-month than a one-month timeframe, because it allows us to do certain things. We can organize public challenges. We can conduct ad campaigns to protest against the termination of the agreement. We can organize demonstrations at the international level, but at the same time, we, too, may want to terminate this agreement. In fact, I was unaware of the fact that British Columbia had asked to reduce it to 24 months. We only found that out later, when we were told on July 1 that the period had been cut back to 23 months. We were very disappointed because, in our opinion, seven years of peace was fantastic. The fact is that people are fed up with having to pay. Our small council spends $5 million a year on legal fees, and that doesn't include what every individual company pays for this infamous treaty. We're talking about $10 to $15 million for Quebec alone. In the case of British Columbia, it surely amounts to $25 or $30 million. And there is also Alberta and Ontario. It has become prohibitively expensive to carry on supposedly much more orderly trade at the international level. It's completely ridiculous, if you ask me, and that's why any course of action that involves negotiation is preferable to legal disputes.
On August 21st, 2006. See this statement in context.