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Seal hunt unpopular; protests even less popular

Juliet O'Neill , CanWest News Service
Published: Friday, April 18, 2008
OTTAWA - Most Canadians don't like the commercial seal hunt but they appear to like confrontational protests against it even less.

Seventy five per cent of Canadians support the federal government's decision last weekend to board and seize an anti-sealing protest ship off the coast of Newfoundland, says an Ipsos Reid poll released Friday.

The was a high level of support for seizing the Farley Mowat, arresting its crew and charging two officers, even though only four in 10 Canadians support the annual hunt.


Sealers drag a harp seal carcass on an ice floe off the northwest coast of Newfoundland earlier this month.
Reuters


Half of Canadians said they oppose commercial seal hunting. Two in 10 would shut it down altogether and four in 10 would allow only hunting by aboriginals and others for personal and subsistence use.

The April 15-17 poll of 1,002 adults for Canwest News Service and Global National is considered accurate to within plus or minus 3.1 percentage points 19 times out of 20.

"It's clear that the Canadian public doesn't like publicity stunts, doesn't like people who are not working within the law," John Wright, senior vice-president of Ipsos Reid, said in an interview.

"The Canadian public is saying we should do something about the seal hunt, we're opposed to it, but we don't want civil disobedience to go with it."

The pollsters compared the findings to 1997 and found opposition to the hunt up two percentage points to 52 per cent, support down by six points to 39 per cent and those who don't know what to think up three points to nine per cent.

Support for the RCMP intervention after the Farley Mowat's confrontation with a coast guard ship was high across the board - in every province, age group and gender.

Attitudes toward sealing, however, vary dramatically by region, education, income, age and gender.

Opposition to the hunt is highest in British Columbia (61 per cent), among urban residents (55 per cent), the under-35 age group (60 per cent), women (63 per cent), those with less than a high school education (63 per cent) and those with incomes under $30,000 (70 per cent).

Support for commercial sealing is highest in Atlantic Canada (64 per cent), among the 55 or older age group (44 per cent), rural residents (48 per cent), university educated adults (48 per cent) and those with annual incomes of $60,000 or more (48 per cent). Far more men, 51 per cent, support sealing than women, 28 per cent.

"People who support this are dealing with the intellectual argument, they're not dealing with the emotional argument," Wright said. "This has never been about a rationale argument. It's been about photographs, about blood, about baby seals and about the use of force against a small animal. You can't compete in a rationale argument on those bases."

As well as the incident involving the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's vessel, the government has been dealing with the threat of a European Union ban on seal product imports.

The Atlantic Canada data differs from the rest of the country. Two-thirds of Atlantic Canadians support the hunt and three in 10 are opposed. Most Atlantic Canadians either want to see the seal hunt operate as it currently is (44 per cent) or support an expansion of the hunt (17 per cent). Two in 10 (18 per cent) support closing the hunt completely, while 16 per cent support closing the commercial hunt but allowing aboriginals and subsistence hunters to continue their practice.

Saskatchewan and Manitoba are the only other provinces where there are more individuals (50 per cent) supporting than opposing (42 per cent) the hunt. Most Quebecers (54 per cent) and Ontarians (55 per cent) oppose the hunt. Half of Albertans oppose it.

Ottawa Citizen 2008
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=e7856350-8bea-408c-a098-70c6dfb08e20&k=37070

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Personnellement, je ne crois pas trop aux sondages. C'est trop facile de les faire «parler»...