Hope for Anti-Sealers, Canada MinisterForced to Resign! (Paul Watson)

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FW: Press Release: (SSCS) Hope for Anti-Sealers,

Canada MinisterForced to Resign

 

Press Release: (SSCS) Hope for Anti-Sealers,

Canada Minister Forced to Resign

 

 

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/11/prweb314420.htm

 

 

Hope For Anti-Sealers, Canadian Minister Forced To

Resign

 

Canada's Removal of Anti-Seal Minister Leaves Hope Of

Honest Negotiations

Friday Harbor, Washington (PRWEB) November 22, 2005 --

Today marks a red

letter day for anti-sealers as John " Kill 'em all "

Efford, the former

Canadian Regional Minister of National Resources for

Newfoundland and

Labrador resigned his position after mounting public

and political pressure

to do so.

 

" The end of the political career of John Efford may

help Canada adopt a more

reasonable and mature attitude towards the seals, "

says Captain Watson,

Founder and President of Sea Shepherd Conservation

Society (SSCS), a marine

wildlife conservation organization founded in 1977.

" We are happy that the

Canadian Government decided to replace Minister

Efford, as it was impossible

to enter into serious discussions regarding seals when

the Canadian Minister

of National Resources touted his resolution to

exterminate the seals. "

 

Though Minister Efford claims that he was forced to

resign because of health

problems, the public scandal he has caused the

Canadian government over the

years raises questions. For example, before the

Canadian House of Assembly

Proceedings on May 4, 1998, Minister Efford professed,

" I would like to see

the six million seals, or whatever number is out

there, killed and sold,

destroyed or burned. I do not care what happens to

them . . . the more they

kill the better I will love it " .

 

Canada is now under serious economic and social

pressure because of the

successful boycott of Canadian seafood supported by

organizations like SSCS

and others who are trying to stop the killing of the

Canadian seals. But

with representatives such as Minister Efford at the

helm, the Canadian

government isn't being taken seriously when they

proclaim that they are

attempting to find solutions.

 

On November 7, 2005, a colleague of similar sentiment

to Minister Efford,

Geoff Regan, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and

Regional Minister for Nova

Scotia, attempted to hold a meeting in Minister

Efford's domain of

Newfoundland for the alleged purpose of getting input

on the sealing issue

from all interested parties. But the meeting fell

apart because anti-sealers

felt that expressed statements from officials like

Minister Efford and

Minister Regan meant that their views would not be

taken seriously.

 

Captain Watson, in the South Pacific at the time of

the meeting, stated, " I

was amazed that Minister Regan told reporters that he

was disappointed that

I didn't attend the meeting because he wanted input

from all parties. I have

been requesting a meeting with Minister Regan for

years to no avail, "

Captain Watson clarified as to why he acquiesced to

boycott of the meeting.

It appears that the parties felt it necessary to

boycott the forum because

in the past, like Minister Efford, Minister Regan's

pro-sealing sentiments

have not presented a non-biased forum in which their

input was taken

seriously,

 

However, with Canada's decision to remove Minister

Efford, professional

marine conservation specialists like Captain Watson

are looking on with a

keen eye. Maybe there is hope that Canada will create

a genuine forum where

sound logic will rule and genuine concerns will be

addressed.

 

For more information about SSCS and Captain Watson,

please visit

www.seashepherd.org.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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