Madam Chair, I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor.
Tonight I stand to speak to the issue of the European ban on the seal hunt. I am frustrated, as are the 6,000 sealers who usually take to the ice floes during March and April every year. I am frustrated that misinformation and deliberate mistruths would cause the European Union to impose a ban on the import of seal products.
Years ago, I remember going to the waterfront in downtown St. John's for the blessing of the fleet. We had fleets going to the ice floes at that point in time, sealers taking to the ice for needed food and to earn much-needed money after a long, hard, cold winter.
Even today, we still see that happening. Unfortunately we do not necessarily have the blessing of the fleets in downtown St. John's any more because fewer and fewer people are going to the front. Today there are some 6,000 people heading to the ice each year, 6,000 people earning a living. Twenty-five per cent to thirty per cent of their income comes from the seal hunt. In 2006, for example, $30 million was contributed in income to harvesters from the seal industry, nearly $55 million to the provincial economy.
It is truly nearsighted, unfortunate and concerning that the European Union would take this action at this point in time, without having the full, robust debate with Canada on this very important issue.
For the people watching tonight, for the animal rights activists, I want to ensure they understand that the sealers of Canada are committed to a sustainable harvest based on humane harvesting methods, supported by solid science and sound principles. Seals are not an endangered species. White coats are no longer taken from the ice floes of our country.
We have had close to 6 million seals around my province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is at a point now where we can see seals going up the salmon rivers after salmon because they have pretty much shelled out all the cod around Newfoundland and Labrador. It is truly very severe and scientifically unsound that we would have that many seals doing this much damage and nothing about it.
I stand here today because campaigns by animal rights welfare activists to ban the seal hunt are based on misinformation of cruelty in the harvesting practices. It is truly unfortunate that we continue to allow this to happen. As an hon. colleague pointed out, this kind of misinformation earns them a lot of money and it earns them a lot of opportunity to earn more money and raises their profile.
Unfortunately, they should be putting their actions to other cruelties in this world, rather than on the seal hunt because the seal hunt is humane. It is a very conservation-oriented practice.
While we have the representatives of the European parliament allowed to make this decision based on this misinformation, we need a balanced review of the industry in our country.
The implementation of this ban represents a loss to the Canadian people and to the sealing industry of $2.4 million. It is truly a failure on behalf of the government of our country that we are now in this situation. I call on the Prime Minister, who will be in talks very soon with the European Union, to take action now. The government must challenge this decision with the World Trade Organization, as has been said.
The Prime Minister has a duty to express his government's opposition. He has a responsibility to our sealers and to Canadians to talk to the European Union officials when he speaks with them during the European trade talks. The ban on seal products has detrimental effects not only to the sealers, but to our ecology, especially around the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador.
The Prime Minister has to address these trade issues with the European Union and all of our trading partners. Opportunities to correct the information spread by the animal rights extremists have already been forfeited by the government. We must not allow that to continue. It would be unconscionable not to correct this record when he meets with EU officials, and I ask him to do so.