What we're saying is companies in the U.K. are already saying people are avoiding coming to BC over this. BC's Minister of Tourism, Ian Waddell, recently expressed his support for banning the legal sport hunting of grizzly bears and indicated he would be taking the issue to the Cabinet. The treaty bans the export and import of listed species, or their body parts. The U.S. and Canada are among the 152 nations that have signed the treaty. More than three-quarters of British Columbians oppose the hunt, according to a provincewide poll taken in 1996.
Opposition runs strong in the ecotourism industry.
I once experienced a mother grizzly bear teaching her two young cubs to find food in the wilds of Alberta. This experience was most magical, and I believe British Columbia needs to understand that there is much more advantage in allowing these wild animals to stay alive than to let them be terminated forever.