Seal meat to be on menu at Canadian Parliament

Canada's parliamentary restaurant will be serving seal meat on Wednesday in a gesture of defiance aimed at a European Union ban on imports of seal products.


In the above photo we see Canadian Minister of defense Peter MacKay cutting into some seal meat.

Canada's Conservative government says it's going to fight thel fight the EU ban, which was imposed last July on the grounds that the annual seal hunt off the east coast was cruel and inhumane.
A meal of double-smoked bacon-wrapped seal loin in a port reduction will be on the menu the office of Senator Celine Hervieux-Payette said.
"All political parties will have the opportunity to demonstrate to the international community the solidarity of the Canadian Parliament behind those who earn a living from the seal hunt," she said in a statement.
Ottawa says the hunt -- which takes place in March and April -- provides valuable income for Atlantic fishing communities. The seals are either shot or hit over the head with a spiked club called a hakapik.
An aide to Hervieux-Payette said that, depending on supplies, seal meat could be available once a week when in season. 

You may remember the poll we conducted some months ago:

The question? Would you try seal meat at a restaurant?

With 705 total votes, you said:

Yes, I'll try anything once (389)
55%

Yes, I like seal meat (38)
5%

No, it's a cruel industry (226)
32%

I don't eat meat (52) 
7%

PETA takes a pie in the face

ST. JOHN'S, N.L.
PETA had earlier warned that it would protest the Canadian seal hunt during the Harper event.
Instead, PETA got a taste of its own tactics as one of its seal hunt protesters had a pie pushed into her face.

The PETA protester was wearing a seal suit, waiting for Prime Minister Stephen Harper to arrive for a speech when a man in a yellow dog suit (A seal hunt supporter) came up to her and shoved a cream pie into the woman's face.
The person wearing the yellow outfit was an employee of K-Rock, a private FM radio station in St. John's, who contacted PETA in the morning and offered to help with the protest.
Shortly after the protest began, the K-Rock emplyee started denouncing PETA and its protests in front of the cameras.

Earlier in the week PETA was happy to take credit for hitting federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea in the face with a pie to protest her support for sealing.

Back in July we asked our readers how you felt about eating seal meat.

With 705 total votes, here were the results:
The question? Would you try seal meat at a restaurant?
Yes, I'll try anything once (389)
55%
Yes, I like seal meat (38)
5%
No, it's a cruel industry (226)
32%
I don't eat meat (52)
7%

It's clear that eating seal is not a big issue for the majority, that's a total of 60% of you.
7% don't eat meat and 32% refused to eat seal because you believe it's a cruel industry.

Would You Eat Seal Meat? Poll Results

Our poll about eating seal meat has ended, it's a controversial dish and we wanted to know how you felt.

With 705 total votes, here are the results:

The question? Would you try seal meat at a restaurant?

Yes, I'll try anything once (389)
55%

Yes, I like seal meat (38)
5%

No, it's a cruel industry (226)
32%

I don't eat meat (52)

7%

It's clear that eating seal is not a big issue for the majority, that's a total of 60% of you.

7% don't eat meat and 32% refused to eat seal because you believe it's a cruel industry.

Chefs Serve Seal and Controversy

In the Au Cinquième Péché, a bistro in the neighborhood called the Plateau almost every table was sampling an appetizer plate that included a specialty of the restaurant’s French-born chef, Benoît Lenglet: a seared, rare loin, dark red in color, with a texture and taste akin to beef tenderloin. But the meat was not beef. It was seal. It's a controversial dish that has many satisfied customers.
Seal meat, yes the same sea mammals that are cute and cuddly looking and a pet cause of animal activists.

Seal has become quite the culinary delicacy in Canada, where it's served up seared and rare in fine restaurants, much like a loin of beef.

The restaurants in Canada that prepare seal have become major tourist attractions, perhaps because of a European Unionban on imports of commercially caught Canadian seal products.

While seal-hunting is the subject of heated debates and protests in Europe, Canada's governor general, Michaelle Jean, effectively thumbed her nose at the European ban just days after it passed, by eating on a piece of raw seal heart during a visit to an Inuit community feast in Rankin Inlet, in the far northern territory of Nunavut. Governor General Jean’s widely publicized snack seemed a direct retort to the European Union, an impression she did not try to dispel.
“Take from that what you will,” she said, when asked if she was sending a message to Europe.

Even though the French are against seal hunting, they want to eat it when they come to Canada.

Rebecca Aldworth director of the Humane Society in Canada, told the paper. “The restaurants aren’t the story here. The seal hunt is the story.”

Our poll "Would you try seal meat at a restaurant?" is on the sidebar. We will run the poll for a week, then we will get a better idea how you really feel about all this.