Just in time for Canada's tax day, William Shatner has news for Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper: He's living in deep space if he thinks the annual seal slaughter is fiscally responsible. In a letter to the prime minister, Canadian-born Shatner says, "Not only is it cruel to bludgeon and shoot thousands of seals every year, the slaughter also costs taxpayers millions more to support than it actually earns." 
 
Canada spends millions of dollars in taxpayer money propping up the commercial seal slaughter, even though income from the massacre accounts for less than 1 percent of Newfoundland's economy. A study in 2010 at Canada's University of Guelph found that ending the slaughter would save Canada at least $7 million each year.
 

 
Why does the slaughter continue? As Shatner puts it, "At a time of massive budget cuts in Canada, when many Canadians are struggling just to pay their bills, the government continues to defend this dying industry because both the conservative and liberal parties crave the region's seven swing seats in Parliament."

Please e-mail Prime Minister Harper and ask him to "boldly go where no man has gone before" and put an end to the unprofitable, barbaric seal slaughter immediately.
 

Written by Michelle Sherrow

jomilo75/CC by 2.0

It's official: The European Union doesn't want to import the pelts—or any other parts—of slaughtered baby seals. Compassion has won out, and the EU's historic ban on the sale of seal-derived products will remain in place, despite the seal slaughterers' last-ditch attempt to stop it.

With basically an entire continent and countless kind people around the world boycotting products that come from bashed baby seals, we hope that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper will finally realize that the seal slaughter is both inhumane and unprofitable. Let's encourage him to finally put an end to Canada's shameful seal slaughter!

Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post

This morning, when Prime Minister Stephen Harper met with President Obama at the Canadian Embassy in D.C., he got a welcome that I'm sure he won't forget any time soon.

Three "seals" covered with red paint writhed on the ground to illustrate what happens to hundreds of thousands of harp seals in Canada.

Fifteen other demonstrators held up stop signs reading, "Harper: Stop the Seal Slaughter."

With D.C. traffic already backed up, the cops weren't thrilled with the additional congestion.

Luckily, the officers weren't armed with hakapiks.

If Prime Minister Harper wants a warmer welcome next time, the first thing that he should do is stop the annual seal slaughter.

Written by Liz Graffeo

This week at the summit of North American leaders, President Obama discussed his stimulus plan, which is aimed at improving the U.S. economy. It includes a "buy American" clause that requires projects funded with stimulus money to use only American goods.

Guess who's up in arms?

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Prime Minister Harper is concerned that if America switches to products made in the US of A instead of buying those made in Canada, his country will suffer a significant financial blow.

That's exactly what we've been saying!

By boycotting Canadian maple syrup—one of Canada's major revenue sources—consumers can help pressure the government to end the annual seal slaughter.

You heard the prime minister—buy American! But before you head out to the supermarket, check out these pictures from our latest demonstration outside the Canadian Consulate in Denver, Colorado:

Written by Liz Graffeo

businessreport / CC

In an effort to clean up its act before the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, the city of Victoria is building four new waste-treatment plants to handle the tens of millions of gallons of raw sewage that are currently being pumped into Puget Sound every day.

Processing sewage isn't the only thing that Canada needs to do in order to clean up its act before the Games. That's why we're suggesting that until Canada's prime minister finally washes the blood of baby seals from his hands, one of the new sewage plants be named the "Stephen Harper 'Something's Rotten' Sewage Treatment Plant" in his honor.

That's just our little way of reminding him that allowing hundreds of thousands of seals to be shot and beaten to death each year is a load of crap.

If Stephen Harper really wants his country to look good in time for the 2010 Olympics, he needs to act now to make sure that there won't be another seal massacre in 2010.

Otherwise, Harper may well find himself in deep doo-doo.

Written by Jeff Mackey

Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday to you!
Quit slaughtering the seals!
Happy birthday to you!

Or at least that's what I like to think these caring people were singing when they stopped by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's home to deliver a few birthday balloons for his big 5-0.

This young veg'un (isn't he adorable?) is older than most of the seals Prime Minister Harper allows to be butchered.

Since when you do need a police escort to deliver balloons?

Sergeant Mitch Monette took the balloons on the Prime Minister's behalf.

Written by Shawna Flavell

gossipcheck / CC

Pamela Anderson and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin? It turns out that the two of them have more in common than you might think. Namely, they are both opposed to the mass slaughter of seals.

Pamela has written to Putin suggesting that he use his political influence to help her—and many other Canadians, Russians, and people worldwide—end Canada's shame. Putin recently banned the killing of baby harp seals in Russia after calling the hunt a "bloody industry that should have been banned long ago." Pamela, a Canadian who is always a stunning PETA ambassador, has hand-delivered thousands of petition signatures to her homeland's parliament, protesting the fact that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper still allows the beating and skinning of approximately 338,200 seals every year. PETA and Pamela believe that if Putin directs his opposition of the seal slaughter at Prime Minister Harper, Harper will sit up and take note.

Written by Shawna Flavell