Senator determined to end seal hunt

[Animal 0]

Senator determined to end seal hunt
By Mike De Souza, Canwest News Service March 9, 2010
Comments (38)


A Harp seal pup lays on an ice floe March 31, 2008 in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence near Charlottetown, Canada.Photograph by: xx, xxOTTAWA — Liberal Senator Mac Harb says he was expecting to get heckled and booed Tuesday in his latest attempt on Parliament Hill to end the commercial seal hunt in Canada.


But Harb said he won't let that stop him from his efforts to try again.


"I've got thick skin," said Harb, who also introduced legislation last year that immediately died when he failed to get another senator to second his proposal.


He suggested that the support for the hunt from both the governing Conservatives and his own Liberals is based on "political opportunism," that will backfire since Canada's largest trading partners are banning imports of seal products from the hunt.


At a joint news conference with Harb, the Humane Society International/Canada and a climate scientist, Cynthia Tynan, also urged the government to immediately cancel the 2010 seal hunt because of dwindling ice this year off the east coast of Canada that is at its lowest level on record.


The warnings are part of a political seal war on the Hill, with almost all the rest of politicians supporting the hunt, and endorsing plans by the parliamentary restaurant to serve seal meat at lunchtime on Wednesday.


Federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea has also criticized Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff for not stopping Harb from trying to introduce the legislation.


"It is very unfortunate that the Liberal leader is allowing a member of his caucus to attack the seal hunt at a time when all Canadians should be united behind our sealers and behind our northern and coastal communities," Shea said in the House of Commons on Monday. "I would also encourage the Liberals to take a clear stand on this issue. If they support Canadian coastal communities, then please stand up for them."


Shea added that the government would continue to defend the hunt and fight to improve market access and develop new markets for Canadian seal products.


mdesouza@canwest.com

Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette


http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Senator+determined+seal+hunt/2661940/story.html