September 21, 2010
Letters - Edmonton Journal
Re: "Attempt to change world's view futile," by Sen. Mac Harb, Letters, Sept. 10.
Sen. Mac Harb has every right to oppose the seal hunt, even if he is the only member of the entire Canadian Senate to do so. His claim that "the EU is simply banning a product its citizens don't want," however, is self-serving poppycock. If Europeans didn't want seal products and weren't buying any, as the senator claims, surely there would be no need to ban their import? More to the point, if countries started banning everything some lobby group opposes, there wouldn't be much left of the world trading system. This would be especially devastating for Canada, a resource exporting country, which is why the Canadian government has launched a World Trade Organziation challenge against the EU's arbitrary trade ban -- and they are to be commended for it -- because, as the senator rightly states: hard-working Canadians deserve real support.
Alan Herscovici, executive vice-president, Fur Council of Canada