CAN gov't criticized for posting Economist article (Toronto Nat'l Post)‏
Sent: May 21, 2009 5:44:29 PM
NOTE: The article mentioned below was provided by me on May 15 "EU
politicians breathtakingly hypocritical about sealskins -Edit (The
Economist)"
Toronto National Post
Canada criticized for posting Economist's seal article on website
Peter O’Neil, Europe Correspondent, Canwest News Service
Published: Wednesday, May 20, 2009
http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=1613557 Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government came under attack Wednesday
for promoting a British magazine's accusation that European
politicians, who have devastated the Canadian sealing industry by
banning seal product imports, are trying to punish "seal-murdering
foreigners" for political gain.
The Economist said European parliamentarians are guilty of
"breathtaking hypocrisy" and cited Europe's own animal rights
shortcomings, such as exemptions allowing sheep to have their throats
cut while still alive to respect Jewish and Muslim traditions.
Other critics have mentioned Europe's tolerance for Spanish bullfights
and the widespread popularity in France of foie gras -- fatty liver --
that is made by cruelly force-feeding ducks and geese before
slaughtering them.
The magazine also accused members of the European Parliament (MEPs) of
pandering for votes during their campaign to keep their seats in next
month's election.
"Seal-murdering foreigners are a soft target," The Economist noted.
"Having been invisible to their constituents for the past five years,
what better way for MEPs to save their own skins than to fight
valiantly for those of baby seals?" The hunting of harp seal pups,
know as whitecoats, has actually been banned in Canada since 1987.
The article, in the latest edition of The Economist magazine, was
posted on a Canadian government website as part of the federal
Department of Fisheries and Oceans' stated goal of providing "factual
and balanced" information on the seal hunt controversy.
A federal Fisheries Department spokesman said the article posting
doesn't "necessarily" mean Ottawa endorses it.
It was done "to ensure that there is a balance and diversity of
perspectives in the public debate on this issue, which has to date not
been the case in our view," said Phil Jenkins.
Animal rights activists said the argument ignores Europe's relatively
progressive laws on animal rights.
They also argued that Canada's diplomatic sabre-rattling over a tiny
$13-million industry, expected by Ottawa to shrink by half as a result
of the ban, jeopardizes current Canada-European Union free trade talks
projected to eventually bring $12-$13 billion in annual wealth to
Canada each year. On a recent trip to Europe, Harper made it clear
that the EU seal ban wouldn't get in the way of the trade talks.
"By posting this antagonistic article the Canadian government seems to
have lost all sense of perspective in the matter and is not thinking
of the best interests of the Canadian people," said Adrian Hiel, a
Brussels-based spokesman for the International Fund for Animal
Welfare.
Rebecca Aldworth, director of Human Society International Canada, said
Ottawa is "putting the interests of a globally condemned, minor
industry above the interests of Canadians."
Canada has taken other steps to make Europe aware of its anger,
starting with a declaration that Ottawa would fight the ban before the
World Trade Organization.
The Canadian government also blocked last month the EU's application
to sit as an observer in the Arctic Council, an intergovernmental body
of Arctic countries including the U.S., Russia and Canada.
A spokesman for a business group pushing for a free trade deal said
the diplomatic tough-talk "doesn't help," but Jason Langrish said the
seal dispute isn't viewed as a significant trade issue by Europeans
and will have likely faded away by the time a deal is struck in two
years' time.
Europeans "know Harper has to defend it or risk being labelled a
sell-out of Canada interests. Its politics," said Mr. Langrish,
executive director of the Canada Europe Roundtable for Business.
Mr. Hiel cited an IFAW report done last year that compared Canadian
animal rights laws to 13 countries, including the United Kingdom, New
Zealand, the Philippines, Germany and Croatia.
It concluded that the Canadian law ranked "at the bottom" in all
comparisons, providing "virtually no protection" for wild and stray
animals and making cruelty offences "virtually impossible to
prosecute."
Justice Canada was asked Wednesday to comment on the report but did not respond.
"There are dozens of organizations across Europe working and
campaigning to stop bull-fighting and foie gras force-feeding and we
are certain that, in time, they will succeed in ending these
practices, but it takes a long time," Mr. Hiel said.
"No one in Europe thinks that the EU is a perfect set of institutions
. . . but the overall trend is one towards a better world for animals
and people."
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