Senator Cordy: Thank you very much. That’s an excellent question. I recall that incident in New Brunswick, and when you brought it back up again, a shiver went up my spine as to how this could happen.

I was particularly alarmed, as I said in my speech, that between 4,000 and 7,000 big cats are found in private ownership, and that to me is very scary. Big cats are not meant to be living in homes and having private ownership. The same thing that happened in New Brunswick with the snake could conceivably happen again. I think this bill contains measures for protecting the public from privately owned exotic and potentially dangerous wild animals.

I don’t know the bill as well as Senator Klyne does, but from the research that I have done, I would say that is the case. I know that currently there are provinces like British Columbia that have stringent controls, some like Ontario that have none and probably a lot that are in between. My understanding is that this bill will go a long way in preventing big cats from being owned by private individuals.