Mr. Speaker, I never spoke about Kootenay--Columbia as such. I spoke about Canada and the clear-cutting of 10 million hectares that has been going on for over 10 years.
The member might think that because I live in an urban area I do not know what goes on in the country. I have seen clear-cuts for myself. I worked for several years with the Algonquins of Barriere Lake. I will take the member to Laverendrye Park in Quebec and show him the huge clear-cuts that have happened there. Aboriginal people have had to block roads to stop the tremendous devastation of their land and over-cutting of their forestry. Perhaps the member has also forgotten how many people lay on the ground before fallow bunches and so forth to preserve the old growth forests in Clayoquot Sound and other places in British Columbia.
I used to live in British Columbia and I have seen hills being clear-cut. I know there are some areas where old trees have been cut by forestry companies.
There are many examples of huge clear-cuts of our land. If the member is interested I can show him an aerial photograph of Vancouver Island that my colleague from Davenport has which shows a tremendous change in the landscape as a result of the disappearing forests. I know that forestry companies say more trees are planted than are cut. I hope so but I have seen many clear-cuts as well. I have read what is going on. Yes, perhaps there are areas where moose and grizzly bears are thriving.
When I was parliamentary secretary for the minister of the environment one of the studies we did was on the disappearance of grizzly bears in Banff national park. We wanted to open up corridors so grizzlies would be preserved there. We wanted to preserve their habitat because of the encroachment of ski hills and human habitation.
To say that everything is wonderful in Canada is just closing our eyes to reality. If it is so wonderful and all our habitats are preserved, why then do we need endangered species legislation at the federal and provincial levels? Some 1,000 scientists, including 113 members of the royal society are asking us to preserve the habitats because there are too many endangered species, something like over 300 of them. If it were such a paradise, this would not happen. We should open our eyes to reality and do better. This is why I am pleased that this law is happening.