Hon. Céline Hervieux-Payette:

Honourable senators, I am caught up in the enthusiasm for uniting everyone and giving the gift of hope to our citizens on the east or Atlantic coast, whether on the Magdalen Islands or Newfoundland, and to our friends in Nunavut and all those involved in the seal hunt.

I would also like to thank Daniel Shewchuk, Nunavut Minister of the Environment, Quebec Minister Claude Béchard and Mr. Tom Henderson, former fisheries minister with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, who all supported me in preparing this motion. The Canadian family is united behind this motion.

A CBC television program that aired yesterday showed the plight of our fellow citizens for whom the seal hunt is a way of life. They are worried about what the future has in store for them. Whether they are hunters or those who make a living from seal products, no one should feel abandoned.

The purpose of this motion is simply to tell them that we are here for them and that we will continue to fight against groups like PETA, the Humane Society and actors who have not worked in a long time, such as Brigitte Bardot, Pamela Anderson or Paul McCartney, who have no real knowledge of this sector and just blindly lend their name to the vegetarian cause.

This motion will show every group across the land that we are committed to animal welfare while recognizing that humans are an integral part of the ecosystem. A balanced ecosystem, as I wrote in the motion, is the result of constant interactions between predators and prey throughout the food web. Humans are an integral part of the ecosystem and, therefore, their position as predators cannot be separated from nature.

I think that today we agree with our colleague, Senator Grafstein, who is encouraging Europe and the Western world to join Mr. Sarkozy and do business with the Middle East. Nevertheless, we still have work to do to persuade our European Parliament counterparts that our seal hunters can legitimately and ethically raise, harvest and use any animal, whether wild or domestic, for personal, economic and scientific purposes. We must make it clear that we will continue fighting to have the embargo on exporting seal products to Europe lifted.

Honourable senators, I urge you to support this motion.

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