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Pamela Anderson renews call to end seal hunt during Halifax Juno visit
HALIFAX (CP) - On the eve of her Juno hosting gig, Pamela Anderson took more shots at Prime Minister Stephen Harper, urging him to get a makeover and, on a more serious note, renewed earlier calls to end the East Coast seal hunt.
"When people think of Canadian Club, they should think of a good whisky, not jerks beating pups on the ice," she told a throng of reporters during a news conference late Saturday afternoon.

Dressed in a baby blue minidress, the B.C. native said she was disappointed Harper had refused her earlier request for a meeting after the country's annual music awards show.

The refusal prompted the former Baywatch babe to write Harper another letter warning that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals would escalate their efforts if Canada does not stop the annual seal harvest.

She said Harper should take the concerns of public figures like herself and ex-Beatle Paul McCartney, who recently visted Canada to protest the slaughter, more seriously.

"It's a very sad situation. . . . It's a big mistake to keep up the seal hunt," she said.

While Anderson was asked a range of questions during the 45-minute news conference - including one about what music she listens to in her bedroom - she was clearly using the gathering to push her anti-sealing agenda.

She appeared far better versed on the seal hunt than on the state of Canadian music, at one point mistaking the origins of Coldplay.

"I know I'm hosting the Junos . . . (but) I didn't know Chris Martin was Canadian," she told reporters, who quickly corrected her about the origins of Martin's British band.

Anderson was accompanied to Halifax by representatives from PETA, who came armed with copies of her latest letter to Harper for reporters.

She said she was going to mail a petition with 50,000 signatures to Ottawa before she left Halifax.

Anderson said she hoped Sunday's awards show, which will be broadcast around the world thanks to a deal with MTV, brings even more awareness to the cause.

To that end, she hinted she would have a "few little things" to say about the issue during the two-hour broadcast, which features performances by the Black Eyed Peas and Bryan Adams.

"It's on my mind. It's bound to come out," said the model and actor, who hails from Ladysmith, B.C.

This year's seal hunt, which began last weekend on the Gulf of St. Lawrence, has attracted several high-profile celebrity protesters, including McCartney, his wife Heather Mills and French actress Brigitte Bardot.

Some naysayers have gone so far as to ask the global public to boycott Canadian seafood products until the seal hunt is called off.

Anderson said despite Harper's attempts to skirt the issue, opponents would not go away.

"I have a feeling it's going to get worse from the world community," she said. "It's my mission. It's not a trendy thing."

A 15-year animal rights activist, Anderson said she didn't believe anyone was really in favour of the hunt, and urged young people to convince Harper to act.

"If we really push it . . . he'll have to do something," she said. "I don't know how popular he is with young people, but this would be a great way to get popular with them. There's not one young person, I think, in Canada that agrees with the seal hunt."

Earlier in the day at a MAC cosmetics store in a Halifax mall, Anderson told reporters the prime minister could use a makeover. Hundreds of fans showed up to catch a glimpse of the bombshell actress.

When asked by a reporter who needs a MAC makeover the most, Anderson quipped: "Stephen Harper."

Anderson said many of the girls she met at the makeup store supported her stance on the seal hunt.

"I haven't seen anybody really for (the hunt)," she said.

By ANGELA PACIENZA