go EU!

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http://ottsun.canoe.ca/Money/2008/07/13/6145506.html

 

Sun, July 13, 2008

Future of sealing industry hangs in balance

 

Europe mulls ban on seal products Wednesday

 

By THE CANADIAN PRESS

 

ST. JOHN�S, N.L. � For animal welfare activists, this week could

mark the first step to ending the largest marine mammal slaughter in

the world.

For Canada�s commercial seal hunters, it could represent the triumph

of emotion over reason.

The European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union,

is expected to discuss legislation Wednesday that aims to prohibit

the import of seal products.

What�s decided in the Berlaymont, an ornate 14-storey office tower

in Brussels, Belgium, could have a far-reaching impact on outports

throughout Atlantic Canada.

�It�s the epitome of hypocrisy,� said Jim Winter, a long-time

advocate of the sealing industry.

 

�It just goes to prove that the European parliamentarians and the

European bureaucracy are owned by the animal rights groups,

multimillion-dollar, American-based organizations that have been

spreading propaganda in Europe now for decades.�

His views are echoed by many sealers who accuse both levels of

government of lacking the political will to defend their

centuries-old industry and way of life.

�Our own governments have let us down immensely,� said Jack Troake,

who has hunted seals off the coast of Twillingate, N.L., since 1951.

�If the ban goes in place, it�s going to be interesting to see what

Canada is going to do, to see what kind of a stand they�ll take. I

suspect it�s not going to be nothing.�

A spokesman for federal Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn said the

minister would not comment until the EU votes on the proposed ban.

Trevor Taylor, acting fisheries minister in Newfoundland and

Labrador, has called on the federal government to launch trade

sanctions against Europe if the EU approves of a ban. He has

complained that Ottawa has remained silent while animal rights

activists in Europe rallied support for a ban.

�At the end of the day, the buck stops at the federal government

level,� Taylor said.

Premier Danny Williams and Nunavut Premier Paul Okalik wrote the

prime minister in April, calling on him to ban the use of the

hakapik from the annual hunt in the interests of defending its

image.

Taylor, himself a sealer before entering politics, said his province

has yet to hear a response.

In a brief statement on Friday after the federal government was

criticized by Newfoundland and Labrador for not speaking up, Hearn

said the federal government has shown its commitment to sealers on

the international stage.

�We will continue to lead with a strong voice and strong actions on

behalf of the sealers and the sealing industry,� he said.

Last week, Prime Minister Stephen Harper also said he raised the

seal hunt with European Commission president Jose Barroso, and told

him that EU member nations should carefully consider any measure

that would restrict the sale of seal products within their borders.

Over the past two years, the federal and provincial governments have

joined forces to lobby the EU in the hope of thwarting any

legislation that would close its borders to Canadian seal products.

�Big deal,� retorts Winter. �What did you achieve?�

In January 2007, the province hailed the European Commission for

refusing to draft a prohibition on seal products. But since then

momentum has shifted in favour of animal rights organizations that

 

 

With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first

thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably.