Posted on 12 January 2011
Ottawa, January 12, 2011 - Senator Celine Hervieux-Payette enthusiastically welcomes China’s decision to open its market to Canadian seafood and seal products.
"The extremist vegetarians who want us to believe that seals are only used for their fur have once again been invalidated by the world's largest market for seafood. Besides fur, China will experience our excellent Canadian seal meat and oil," said the Senator.
Senator Hervieux-Payette now wants the Government of Canada to facilitate the promotion of seal products to Chinese consumers.
"It is normal that the federal government comes to the defense of Canadian sealers who are victims of a cynical European boycott and slanderous animal rights pressure groups. We helped GM workers; we must also help the Inuit and the fishermen of the East Coast," insists the senator who has always advocated that the government provides a minimum income for sealers based on 2005 income as long as the boycott is appealed at the WTO.
Senator Hervieux-Payette noted finally that animal ethics requires the optimal use of animal resources.
"Pretending that it would be ethical to let a herd of seals grow exponentially, leaving animals to die of hunger or disease is irresponsible. At the top of the food chain, humans have a responsibility to take resources sustainably and to waste as little of them as possible. This is the spirit of the Universal Declaration of the Ethical Harvest of Seals."
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Maximilien Depontailler
Policy Advisor
Office of the Honourable Céline Hervieux-Payette, PC
613-947-8008 – deponm@sen.parl.gc.ca