Some MPs wear seal pins to show their support for embattled industry
OTTAWA - The federal fisheries minister joined members of Parliament in showing their support for Canada's embattled sealing industry by wearing a lapel pin Thursday.
Keith Ashfield said the centuries-old commercial sealing industry is important to Canada"s northern and eastern regions.
"Not only is it a humane and sustainable industry, it's also an industry that provides an important food source for our northern communities," he said during a brief ceremony on Parliament Hill.
In December, the federal government confirmed that the world's largest buyer of Canadian seal products - the Russian Federation - had banned importing harp seal pelts.
The European Union banned importing seal products in 2010, and the federal government has failed to deliver on a promise to open the Chinese market to Canadian seal meat.
Earlier this week, Liberal Senator Mac Harb said the Conservative government should be declaring the industry dead as he condemned Thursday"s photo-opportunity, called Seal Day on the Hill.
"The Conservative government is ignoring Canadian opposition to the commercial hunt and has turned a deaf ear to the international community and its boycott of commercial seal hunt products," Harb said in a statement.
"Instead of working towards a buyout of sealing licenses, the government is offering sealers only hollow promises of non-existent seal trade agreements with China, a doomed challenge of the European Union ban at the WTO, and another photo-op on Parliament Hill."
The pins were given to all members of the House of Commons by the government of Nunavut and the Nunavut Arts and Crafts Association.
Leaders from the community were in Ottawa for the Northern Lights 2012 Business and Cultural Showcase, where Ashfield tried on a sealskin jacket earlier in the day.
As part of the day's events, Rankin Inlet Mayor Pujjuut Kusugak gave Prime Minister Stephen Harper a book lined with seal fur.
"I know that this is Seal Day," said Harper. "We have the Northern Light exhibition going on, and we're promoting all the opportunities in the North, but we"re also emphasizing our government's support for the seal industry, for the seal hunt, which has been vital."
He said Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq spoke emotionally at a recent Conservative caucus meeting about the importance of the hunt to the Inuit.
"And you know that you have our full support in making sure this industry stays viable," the prime minister added. -CP- | 
