Mr. Speaker, I am a rural member. I am on the government side. As I mentioned earlier, I have been involved in this process for a long time ago.
The government is able to move legislation through if it wishes. One of the reasons it took a long time for this legislation is it wanted to consult widely and deal with contentious matters, including compensation, as the chair of the committee indicated.
I represent a riding where there are perhaps 2,000 farms and large areas of forest land which are being used. Of those farms, there are 125 dairy farms, a buffalo farm which has been there for 50 years, beef farms and sheep farms. It is a very diverse riding.
In agriculture, the province of Ontario is even more diverse. In many ways it is the leading agricultural province in the country. It stretches from the vineyards of the south, where I understand we grow kiwi fruit, to the polar bears of the north around James Bay. We have an incredibly diverse and successful rural agricultural economy.
Does the member realize, in his fearmongering, that for many years now people in the province of Ontario have been living with endangered species legislation? Has he heard of any serious problems with respect to compensation under Ontario's internal endangered species legislation?