Mr. Speaker, allow me to express my words of thanks to the hon. members who participated in this debate and provided their comments, views, suggestions and criticisms.
It is unfortunate to hear the Reform Party expressing its lack of belief in the role of government and its belief in the fact that somehow society should find a way to solve its own problems by way of some mysterious activity which is not the result of the decision of society to govern itself by way of established rules that come about when we decide to have a government.
The Reform approach is one that would lead to very few decisions being made in the name of society at large. I suspect that we would not have social security or programs that bind society and distribute wealth if we were to fully bring to its ultimate consequence the philosophy of the Reform Party.
With respect to this bill it is very doubtful that we would ever be able to protect endangered species and come to some tangible results if it were left to the enterprise of individuals, as well intentioned as they may be, to come to some initiatives that would ensure protection of the species.
I was struck by the comments made by the hon. member from the Bloc Quebecois who spent much time describing the issue in terms of federal and provincial species. This is an interesting political point of view and an interesting way of dividing the fauna surrounding us. However the fact remains that birds and animals do not understand political jurisdictions.
We would not want to have a system whereby a bird landing on a provincial stone would be out of luck because the particular province did not have specific legislation to protect birds. However, if the same bird were to land on a federal stone it might have some degree of protection.
Surely this is not what the hon. member intended to imply as the ultimate consequence of her logic. It seems to me that she is on a very dangerous slippery slope if she tries to judge legislation on the basis of jurisdiction that is of a political and human made nature and does not take into account the reality of the fact that animals move. There are not only migratory birds that she generously attributes to federal jurisdiction. There are also animals that do not respect provincial boundaries.
There is a consensus among all participants on the recognition of the absolute necessity of protecting habitat. Habitat is the key to the legislation which ought to have some impact and ensure the protection of endangered species.
It seems we have a consensus that is rather encouraging. I hope it will give the Government of Canada sufficient material on which to build interesting legislation. It is quite obvious that without habitat there cannot be adequate protection of endangered species.
In this sense I hope the hour we have spent on this bill has been a productive one and one that can be used for the design of good and lasting legislation.