He is Canada’s only senator who openly opposes the seal hunt but he may get some company Wednesday.
Liberal Sen. Mac Harb told The Huffington Post Canada he believes at least one senator will stand up with him on Wednesday and support the idea of debating an end to the commercial seal fishery.
Harb has tried twice before, in 2010 and 2009, to introduce a bill that would prohibit non-Aboriginal commercial fishing for seals in Canadian waters.
But every time he stood up in the Senate and asked his peers for support, he was met with silence.
Without any seconders — even from his own party — Harb’s bill couldn’t be discussed in the Senate.
“It’s not very good for democracy when you can’t discuss a very important issue just because the issue is not supported by the political parties,” Harb told HuffPost. “What is good for democracy is to allow informed debate and then people can decide."
This time, however, Harb believes things will be different.
“I have people from different parties indicating support, but I don’t know who will come forward,” he said, refusing to name names.
Harb described it as a “big change,” which he credits to a massive letter, email and call campaign.
Every spring, MPs and Senators’ offices are flooded with thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands of comments from Canadians and foreigners pleading with them to end the seal hunt.
“Every step, every call, every email, every letter makes a difference,” Harb said.
The Liberal senator is convinced the sealing industry is unviable and puts a black mark on Canada’s international reputation.
A recent article in the Guardian slammed Canada for spending more defending the hunt than it nets in the first place.
But the Conservatives, like the Liberals before them, are staunch supporters of the hunt, recently calling it an “important economic and cultural driver in Canada’s eastern, arctic and northern communities.”
Still with markets now closed in Russia and the European Union, Harb believes the tide may be changing.
I’m sort of happy,” Harb said. “I want a discussion and I want government to see the light and do the right thing.”
