Statement Presented to the House of Commons by

Paul Steckle , M.P., Huron-Bruce ( Ontario)

March 23rd, 2005

Mr. Speaker:

Recently I sent a document to all Parliamentarians describing the economic benefits provided to this country by anglers.

To put those benefits into perspective, I offer this…

• In 1999, anglers and hunters spent $1.3 billion on overnight trips. That’s three times the amount of money generated by all performing arts in Canada.

• Between 1984 and 1999, anglers directly contributed more than $335 million to wildlife habitat conservation efforts.

• Anglers and Hunters support more Canadian jobs than the Bank of Nova Scotia, our third largest publicly traded company and

• Each year, anglers spend more than $6.7 billion on their sport. That is double the GDP of PEI, more than all of the restaurant and tavern receipts in Quebec and more than the total retail value of all new vehicles sold in Alberta

Mr. Speaker, anglers represent nearly 20% of our population and are some of our most ardent conservationists. I would like to thank them for their

efforts to make certain that our children enjoy the outdoors as much as we have.