House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2015, with 46% of the vote.
Seal Hunt May 5th, 2009
Madam Chair, he should ask the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans. I am not trying to give a glib answer. I am not qualified to give that answer. The sealers are having a bad hunt anyway, aside from this whole issue. It is a very difficult time with the ice and everything else. So--
Seal Hunt May 5th, 2009
Madam Chair, I am only going to repeat what I said before. I am not privy to the negotiations. The ministers are, the cabinet is and certainly the Prime Minister is, but I am not personally privy to those discussions.
I know, because it has been said by Canadian and European officials, that everything is on the table. Will the seal industry be discussed? I do not know that either. I just know what has been said, which is that everything is on the table. It may, it may not be discussed.
We are now into the legalities of this whole issue. The Canadian lawyers are looking at potential actions at the World Trade Organization. Do they have grounds? All they have to do is listen to what has been said here tonight. I think they certainly have grounds. It is unethical, illegal and confusing and it does not make any sense.
We will wait and see what the lawyers say but quite frankly, if that action is proceeded with, and the minister has already said it is going to be proceeded with, I think that Canada will be successful in that proceeding.
Seal Hunt May 5th, 2009
Madam Chair, of course it is a ruse, absolutely. As I raised in questions to some of my colleagues who spoke earlier, the whole purpose of this thing was to stop the hunt. It had nothing to do with the selling of products. It had to do with stopping the hunt. “Stop killing the seals” is what Brigitte Bardot and Heather Mills said, and maybe Paul McCartney said it as well, although he did not say a lot. That was their position.
Yet the resolution says that the hunt continues, that sealers can continue to hunt all they like, but they just cannot sell the products. What a strange resolution.
With respect to the Inuit, I can only repeat what I said earlier in an exchange with some of my colleagues. How strange it is that this exemption can be provided to the Inuit. Who is going to buy their products when there is a ban on the sale of products? The whole resolution is a major goof. Government lawyers are looking at this issue now and when they proceed to the WTO, I hope that Canada will be successful on this.
Seal Hunt May 5th, 2009
Madam Chair, there was a delegation and again, I can only speak in my capacity as chair of the Canada-Europe Parliamentary Association, but we were just there. We were in Stockholm and Strasbourg. Many of these issues were discussed.
With respect to the first question, with respect to the Canadians and the Europeans, everything is on the table. Everything that we can think of is on the table. It is a very broad discussion. These are very early discussions that are going on with respect to the Canadians and the Europeans. That is all I can say. The Prime Minister is there. He obviously feels this is important enough that he is going to be part of this negotiation. That is how important these issues are with respect to Canada.
With respect to the cost of advertisements, I do not have that information. Perhaps some of the ministers do and the member can ask the question of those ministers. I can only say that members from the Liberal Party, the Bloc Québécois, I cannot really speak for the New Democratic Party, and the Conservative Party have gone over there and we have fought, fought, fought with respect to this issue of the seal hunt. I single out the member's colleague, the member for Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor who single-handedly has done a fantastic job in debating all members of the European parliament we have spoken to.
Seal Hunt May 5th, 2009
Madam Chair, while the government was working to advocate on behalf of Canadian sealers, that Liberal senator was writing to ask members of the European parliament to take away their livelihood.
Let me be specifically clear. There can be no justification for new restrictions on seal products based on animal welfare resource conservation or public morality. This applies equally whether the ban is acted on by individual countries, such as has already been done by the Netherlands and Belgium, or at the European community level as per the vote today by the European parliament.
There also can be no comparison between the Canadian seal hunt and the recent European bans on products made from dog and cat fur. Unlike cats and dogs, seals are not household pets. They are wild animals and can be hunted like any other wild animal, as indeed a range of wild animals are hunted in Europe.
As stated by the Minister of International Trade today, “A ban can only take place if it is based on science”.
The Canadian seal hunt follows internationally accepted best practices. It is humane and environmentally sustainable. It is therefore the government's position that a comprehensive ban on seal products would be a violation of the Europeans' legal obligations under the WTO agreement.
Such a ban is clearly both discriminatory and an unnecessary obstacle to international trade, in violation of both the WTO agreement on technical barriers to trade and the general agreement on tariffs and trade of 1994.
Canada has already addressed the issue of the Dutch and Belgian bans with the WTO. We can request a panel at any time. We had not done so because the pending legislation in the European parliament would supersede national bans, and there has been no point in addressing national bans until that issue has been resolved.
We are also fully committed to taking the European Union to the WTO once the council ratifies the decision taken today by the European parliament to implement a ban on the importation of seal products for the purpose of retail sale.
One important aspect of the European measure that must be addressed is its impact upon Canadian sealers and their families. Sealing is a significant source of income in many small, isolated coastal communities throughout Atlantic Canada, Quebec and the north, representing as much as 35% of a sealer's annual income.
Canada's exports of seal products are in three forms: seal skins, seal oil and seal meat. Traditionally, the pelts have been the main commodity. The average annual processed value of seal products is $35 million to $40 million per year. There are 6,400 active sealers and 650 processors in 30 communities in Newfoundland, Quebec and Nunavut. For sealing communities in Atlantic Canada, the hunt can contribute up to 35% of their annual income. This issue is therefore of great concern to all of Canada as well as to every other country where a thriving commercial sealing industry exists.
For aboriginal communities, sealing is an important cultural tradition as well as a significant source of income. It has also been an important part of the Inuit way of life for thousands of years.
While the measure adopted by the European parliament today includes a limited exemption for some traditional Inuit and indigenous products, this will serve no useful purpose. Inuit spokespersons in both Canada and Greenland have consistently pointed out that such an exemption is meaningless if the overall market for seal products is destroyed by a ban.
Sealing is a lawful activity that helps provide jobs in remote coastal communities where few other opportunities exist. This has been confirmed by rigorous animal welfare principles which are internationally recognized by virtually all independent observers.
Our government will continue to aggressively counter the misinformation campaign being waged by professional anti-seal hunt lobby groups.
I am disappointed that the European parliament has voted to restrict seal products in its markets. We have clearly lived up to our obligations. The Canadian hunt is sustainable, humane and well managed.
Our government's position remains that any ban on a humanely conducted hunt such as Canada's is completely without cause. The facts remain clear. Independent veterinary reports show that in Canada's seal hunt, seals are harvested in a humane manner. Science proves that our seal hunt is a sustainable activity based on sound conservation principles.
We will therefore continue to defend the right of Canadian sealers to provide a livelihood for their families. I know after listening to this debate that I can rely on the support of all members of the House as we move forward.
Seal Hunt May 5th, 2009
It has been going on, as members know, on both sides. I am not going to say that one is worse than the other, but it has been slipping into that.
It is a Canadian problem. I am speaking here tonight not only as a member of Parliament, but as president of the Canada-Europe Parliamentary Association. When we have gone to Europe, it has been with an all-party delegation, and all parties have supported the position every time we have gone. We recently went to Sweden. We have gone to France, the Czech Republic, and Slovenia. We have gone to Lisbon and Berlin. We have gone to all those countries that were president of the European Union, and Sweden is about to become one. At every one of those sessions, the topic of the seal hunt came up.
We had members from all parties. I am just going to mention a few.
One is a member from the Bloc Québécois, the member for La Pointe-de-l'Île, who has been quite vocal over the years.
Another is the member for Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, who I claim is the expert on this topic. I am pleased that he has been along at these delegations and has spoken not only on behalf of his party but on behalf of Canada and on behalf of Newfoundland and Labrador. I congratulate him for the work that he has done.
We had Senator Lynch-Staunton, Senator Milne, and Senator Goldstein, and believe it or not, I remember one Senator Mac Harb was there. I do not recall him speaking for or against. I do not recall that, but we were all speaking against it. Why in the world was he so quiet? I do not want to get into all that. That is the problem of the Liberal Party.
It is particularly regrettable that this vote comes just one day before the Prime Minister attends the May 6th Canada-European Union leaders' summit in Prague, an event that underscores our important shared values historically in Europe.
As with any bilateral relationship, there are always some issues on which we will not agree. We will not let this single disagreement get in the way of our overall efforts at building a stronger good-faith community partnership between Canada and the European Union. However, members should rest assured that we will not allow our broader objectives to distract us from defending the interests of Canadian sealers and their families.
As has been indicated already in this debate, Canada goes to great lengths to have a humane, well-regulated, conservation-based seal hunt. Our standards are based on the best scientific advice available, including that of the European Food Safety Authority.
It is therefore particularly galling to see claims by European officials and politicians, who know better, that the hunting methods employed in Canada are cruel. The EU's own EFSA study stated categorically that seals can be killed humanely with the methods employed in Canada, primarily the rifle but also the hakapik. Indeed, the sealing methods employed in Canada are in many ways similar to killing methods used in other industrial sectors, including other fur industries in Europe. This makes the actions taken in Europe outrageous and hypocritical.
What is even more shocking is the way in which Senator Mac Harb, with the tacit permission of the Liberal leader, has attacked Canadian sealers. While the government was working to advocate on behalf of Canadian sealers—
Seal Hunt May 5th, 2009
Madam Chair, listening to debate tonight, the only downside I have heard with respect to the discussions that have taken place is the partisanship that has been slipping into this debate.
It is a problem—
Seal Hunt May 5th, 2009
Madam Chair, my observation as to how all this happened was that the Heather Millses, the Brigitte Bardots, the American Humane Society and people of that ilk said not to hunt these beautiful little puppies. They said it was cruel. Yet this resolution is all about banning a trade in seal products for the purposes of retail sale. The European parliament is going to allow the hunt. It is going to allow Sweden to carry on with its cull.
Statistics have been given out in the House, noting that the number of seals has tripled since 1971. That is with hunts going on. I do not know what it is going to be without the hunts.
If this resolution carries and the seal hunt is dead in Canada, and it will be if this resolution goes to the very end, who will do the cull?
Seal Hunt May 5th, 2009
Mr. Chair, I want to congratulate the member for his excellent criticism and contradiction of the illegalities of this resolution.
However, there is one item that really has not been discussed very much, and that is the exemption with respect to the resolution of the banning of the marketing of seal products. It is permitted only where the seal products result from hunts traditionally conducted by Inuit and other indigenous communities. What does that mean? Does that mean they can perform their hunts and sell their products? Who are they going to sell them to?
Secondly and more importantly, it is okay, according to the European Union, for the Inuit to get into this business, but it is not okay for any other Canadians who live in the maritime provinces. It is only that one category. Is that, dare I say, racist?
Interparliamentary Delegations April 1st, 2009
Mr. Speaker, I have three more reports to present.
Pursuant to Standing Order 34(1) I have the honour to present to the House, in both official languages, the report of the Canadian delegation of the Canada-Europe Parliamentary Association, OSCE, to the bureau meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly held in Copenhagen, Denmark, April 14, 2008.
Also pursuant to Standing Order 34(1) I have the honour to present to the House, in both official languages, the report of the Canadian delegation of the Canada-Europe Parliamentary Association, OSCE, regarding the election observation mission of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Georgia, May 17 to 22, 2008.
Finally, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1) I have the honour to present to the House, in both official languages, the report of the Canadian delegation of the Canada-Europe Parliamentary Association, OSCE, to the seventh winter meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly held in Vienna, Austria, February 21 and 22, 2008.