Promotional image invitingme to the Calgary Stampede.
Yes, I voted for the Liberal party of Canada last October. It won, and Justin Trudeau became Prime Minister. (Really, I voted against incumbent Conservative Party Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who had methodically turned his back on science-based policy and environmentalism.)[teaserbreak]
I made a donation to the Liberal candidate, thus landing on his email list. I ended up blocking the emails, which sent them to my junk mail folder, unread.
That’s why, until I emptied my junk mail folder last week, I had missed a batch of fundraising emails from Chrystia Freeland: the Liberal Member of Parliament for a Toronto “riding” (the Canadian version of a U.S. “district”) and a member of Trudeau’s cabinet, as Minister of International Trade.
The end of Freeland’s emails read: “After you give, remember to enter for the chance to win a trip to the Calgary Stampede and to hear Justin Trudeau speak while he is there. You can either enter for free or follow the link to the promotion after you donate.”
I don’t want to hear her boss speak while we’re surrounded by animals who are manhandled for fun, chased, pulled off of their feet, driven in chaotic races, and so often killed after serious injuries. I replied to the email, expressing those thoughts, and yup—got another fundraising email, inviting me to win a chance to go to an event I’d hate.
More to the point was Trudeau’s shameful response to what is called a Private Member’s Bill tabled by a young Liberal Member of Parliament, Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, who also has a Toronto riding (but is not a member of the Trudeau cabinet). Erskine-Smith’s Bill C-246 is the latest in approximately two decades to update the part of Canada’s federal law that applies to cruelty to animals, bringing it in line with both popular public opinion and superior legislation in the rest of the developed world. That part of Canada’s law remains basically unchanged since 1892.
The bill would ban shark fin imports, puppy mills, and the importation of dog and cat fur. However, it would specifically exempt all of the traditional animal use industries: hunting, fishing, farming, trapping, research, etc. And yet, like the Conservatives before him, Trudeau listened to those industries and ordered his cabinet to oppose Bill C-246.
Trudeau has done good things at the environmental level, including his recent announcement to rejoin the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. In 2014, under Stephen Harper, Canada was the only country to ever withdraw from the Convention (and, in 2011, from the Kyoto Protocol: also the first country to do so).
I’m pleased… But, until the Liberals show that they share with the majority of Canadians a desire to rise to the 21st century level of compassion for animals, their appeals will continue to arrive in my junk mail box.
Keep Wildlife in the Wild,
Barry