Raynald Blais

[Seal Hunt, May 5th, 2009]

Madam Chair, I would like to mention one thing in passing. I have in fact had the opportunity to go to Europe and speak before the parliamentarians and also to meet with some of them. One of the points that strikes me in this matter is the degree of disinformation. So much of it in fact that, when the topic of the ban comes up, they say there is an exemption for the Inuit. That way they wash their hands of it.

Today a press release was made public from the Inuit delegation that has been at the European parliament in Strasbourg, They state categorically that they were deceived by the decision reached. It is bad for them as hunters but also as the Inuit community. They describe it as nothing more than a political ploy.

I believe that the hon. member across the way who has just spoken will surely be in agreement with me that the political ploy of including an exemption for the Inuit, which is criticized by the Inuit, speaks volumes on the way people perceive the decision that has been announced by the European Parliament. Everyone loses, even those who have been exempted today.

[Seal Hunt, May 5th, 2009]

Madam Chair, I would like to point out one thing, and I would ask the member for Bourassa whether he agrees with me.

We face an enormous challenge. We must convince not only European parliamentarians, but the European public. To do that, we need a massive information campaign and a strong action plan. Given the results to date, it is certain that we will eventually have to step up our efforts. We must be more rigorous and take a more aggressive approach, but eventually we will have to target the people of Europe. Our job is and will be to convince them that demagoguery and misinformation should not continue to dominate, as they did during the vote yesterday.

[Seal Hunt, May 5th, 2009]

Madam Chair, I would just like to ask the member whether he agrees with me that one way we can fight misinformation and demagoguery is to point out that there are various uses for seals. One of the potential uses is in treating cardiovascular diseases. Research is underway on seal heart valves, which may replace the pig heart valves currently on the market. Initial findings indicate that seal heart valves offer very promising results in terms of rejection and so on. So that is another tool we have. Does he agree with me that we need to emphasize the positive aspects of the seal hunt, such as collagen and seal heart valves, that may have applications?

[Seal Hunt, May 5th, 2009]

Mr. Chair, I want to say first that the attack—because it is an attack—on the reputation of the people of the Magdalen Islands, Newfoundland and Labrador and the lower North Shore is horrendous. To face this attack, we must use all the means at our disposal.

Depending on attack x, y or z from an adversary, one of these means is to react relatively passively and wait to see what happens. Will the adversary tire of his attacks? This attitude should be condemned and it is certainly reprehensible. I think we should act with great vigour and rigour.

The abolitionists use pictures to their advantage to wage their campaigns and battles. I have to admit they do it vigorously, but not very rigorously. We have to respond in kind. There are many places where we can act: the G7, G8, G20, and so forth. We could also bring this issue up in the incipient negotiations over a free trade agreement between the European Union and Canada. There are places where we can act, but we need to do so with more vigour. This means that the government needs to have teamwork. We parliamentarians can work together collegially as a team, but the government has to do it as a team too.

I would therefore encourage the Minister of Foreign Affairs to act with greater rigour. He said just recently, in a rather resigned way, that what they are doing does not make any sense and we would see at the WTO. I do not think that is the way to react. We have to take the offensive, act rather than react.

[Seal Hunt, May 5th, 2009]

Mr. Chair, I will attempt to answer the question that is buried in the commentary.

I understand very well that it is possible to be attracted by all sorts of manoeuvres that may be partisan. I have already met with Mac Harb, a Liberal senator who I do not like at all. I went to see him to find out what he wanted. I have the impression that he was looking for his moment of glory and he got it. This does not taint the entire Liberal Party. But, at the same time, this shows that I would like the Liberals to condemn Mac Harb's gesture. That is one thing.

If we speak only of these aspects, we will never finish. There are many criticisms I could level at this government. I repeat that this poses an enormous challenge and that we must be united. It is possible to be united in adversity on condition that we have a common vision. We do share a vision. We are defending the seal hunt, in a non-partisan way, everywhere. However, when it comes to how we will do that, it is an entirely different matter. We might have misgivings or different perspectives, but that is not very serious. However, we have to start from the premise that we are unanimous in defending the seal hunt. Now all that remains is to determine what means we shall employ.

For my part, I will always defend the principle that if we do not reach all Europeans, we shall lose the battle for truth. That is why I am coming back to the idea of conducting a massive information campaign.

[Seal Hunt, May 5th, 2009]

Mr. Chair, as I said earlier, we may actually have got off to quite a start when it comes to partisanship and I do not think that anyone is in a position to teach anyone else lessons when it comes to the seal hunt. For myself, I have been a member for five years now and I have had an opportunity to play an active role on this issue. We would not have got to where we are today without unanimity among all political parties on the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, from the Bloc Québécois, certainly, but also from the Conservative Party, the New Democratic Party and the Liberal Party.

The reason we have got to where we are today is precisely that we were able to deal with the issue in a non-partisan manner. It seems to me that we are a little behind the curve, because demagoguery and disinformation have won out for 30 years now in Europe.

Yes, there has been a bit of action, but not enough to suit me. I have a lot of critical things to say about this, but they are intended as constructive criticisms. I also have a lot of ideas on this, or potential actions we could take to deal with the situation. To put us in context again, there have been 30 years of demagoguery and disinformation, which explains why this is no easy task. The challenge is enormous, immense. When it comes down to it, the ones we have to convince are the European parliamentarians, but also the 500 million Europeans. In the end, 500 million people in Europe have been contaminated by disinformation and demagoguery.

Each time I have gone there and have raised the seal hunting issue, I have had the impression—not that I was necessarily ill received, which is not the problem—that they had heard just one side of the story and here we were coming along with the other version. This is a counter-argument at last. It may be far too late in coming, in a way, because the damage has been done.

We can see that the European parliamentarians, who will very soon be off campaigning again, and are thinking of nothing else than re-election, of the elections looming on June 4, have almost unanimously decided to vote in favour of the ban. Only a very few, fifty or so, have decided to vote against it and one of those deserves our praise: Peter Stastny. Though I am not necessarily a backer of the Quebec Nordiques, since I am a Montreal Canadiens fan, I think it is worth noting that Peter Stastny was one of the opponents, and I read today that he was a pretty energetic opponent. Just as he has managed to score goals against my beloved Habs, I think he has scored some good goals in this instance, with a view to helping the truth win out. What we are trying to do in this issue is bring out the truth.

Things are now at the point that even greater intervention is needed. We can no longer content ourselves with having the Canadian embassy host the odd reception to talk about the seal hunt, giving a little presentation to a few individuals or calling people to a small meeting. We must go much further. That is why I believe we have reached a crossroads in this file. If nothing else, what happened today should shake us up and serve as a wake-up call. It should also serve as a wake-up call for the government, since it is not my intention to flatter them too much. We must all wake up, band together and come up with a real action plan that includes a real information and awareness campaign.

Personally, I have done little on this file strictly speaking, but in a way, I have done many things. I have had the opportunity to meet many parliamentarians and, if nothing else, I managed to get some of them to the Magdalen Islands so they could meet some of the people who live there. There were not many parliamentarians, only three. But the little effort I was able to make, along with the efforts made by the people of the Magdalen Islands in recent years, and the efforts we can all make in our own small way, can be significant.

We are at a crossroads. What is going on now must spur us into action, and we must also set aside partisanship. We must find a way to launch a massive information campaign with people who know about seal hunting, who engage in that activity, and who could eventually travel to Europe. They have already done so, but they must do so again. We could use the Centre d'interprétation du phoque, in the Magdalen Islands, which is a facility that already exists. A travelling exhibition could go to various places. It already does in Canada. We must make efforts in the right places. We must do something more significant than merely reacting to those who are challenging us, to abolitionists. These people are not defending animals. Rather, I see them more as abolitionists, who just want to abolish the seal hunt and who totally betray our history and traditions. We are well aware that the seal hunt is an activity that goes back 200 years or 300 years in the Magdalen Islands. I believe this is also the case in Newfoundland and Labrador.

It is an honourable tradition that is carried on with great pride. We must show very conclusively to Europeans that the seal hunt, which is a yearly activity, is not only aimed at selling sealskins to make money. It is an activity that is in the blood of the Magdalen Islanders, of the residents of Newfoundland and Labrador, and of those of the lower North Shore. It is an activity that triggers what will follow in the days and the months to come. That tradition is respectable and it is carried on honourably.

This is a good starting point. Indeed, in Europe, today or very soon, we are going to continue negotiating a free trade agreement. Ultimately, we must ask why we would act like barbarians when it comes to hunting seal, but not in the context of a free trade agreement between Canada and the European Union.

By that, I mean I can see that grandstanding and misinformation have prevailed, but we have tools at our disposal. We have to use them to the fullest. I am very pleased to see several ministers here this evening. It is clear that this has to be a team effort. The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans cannot do it alone. She will need help from the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of International Trade and other ministers involved in one way or another in this matter. They will all have to work together on this.

As someone put it, we need more leadership. Leadership is the only thing that will help us deal with this problem, this challenge. As I have often said, we no longer have problems; we have challenges. If we think of situations as challenges, we find within ourselves enough energy to deal with them. If we see them as problems, they are much harder to overcome.

This is a challenge of monumental proportions, but we can face it if we think of the people who hunt and fish every day in an honourable and respectful way. We have many good arguments on our side, but the best one is that we are standing up for truth. Sealing abolitionists will say anything. They say that hunters still go after baby seals, that their methods are cruel, and so on. We stand for truth, equipped with a report from independent veterinarians. These animals are not killed inhumanely. The seal hunt is like an outdoor abattoir. Naturally, an outdoor abattoir is not an easy image to sell as fantastic and wonderful. We cannot think like that.

I think that this is a tremendous challenge, but we are up to it.

[Seal Hunt, May 5th, 2009]

Mr. Chair, I would like to make one small point in passing. I sit here with my Liberal friends, but at the same time I would have liked us to be able to be together all round. I could also have been sitting with Conservative Party or New Democratic Party members, because I believe that this issue goes beyond party politics. Ultimately, it is a fight for the truth. It is a fight for respect. Our traditions have to be respected. When I look at the European decision my impression is not that our traditions and so on are being respected.

I would like to ask the member what action should be taken starting now in relation to the negotiations about the Canada-European Summit that are beginning? What approach should our negotiators there be taking?

[Seal Hunt, May 5th, 2009]

Mr. Chair, I would like to say one thing before asking the minister my question. Today, after the results of the vote were announced, I said I was disappointed that disinformation and demagoguery rather than truth had carried the day. I also said that I was not necessarily surprised.

And I said that I was frustrated with the resigned attitude of the government. It was my impression that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the government as a whole—because there is interdepartmental work to be done on this issue—seemed to have resigned themselves to this happening and eventually we would go before the World Trade Organization to challenge the decision. I would have preferred that we get in front of this, however, rather than doing the work after the decision. In particular, on February 24 we presented a unanimous motion of the committee calling for something to be done on this issue, such as an information campaign and other things.

I would like to understand the department’s attitude better. Does the minister share my frustration, that is, she might possibly have liked to do more, but unfortunately she did not have enough support within the government to do more preparation or have a better action plan, in terms of visibility and impact?

[Fisheries and Oceans, May 5th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the European Parliament voted this morning to ban the sale of seal products in the EU. The ban is to take effect in 2010.

Do the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and her government have an action plan prepared to challenge that decision and do they intend, among other things, to lay a complaint with the World Trade Organization.

[Fisheries and Oceans, April 29th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, Quebec's National Assembly has unanimously adopted a motion condemning this decision to award permanent fishing quotas to Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia.

Does the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans promise to respond to the motion unanimously adopted in Quebec City on April 23?