Eric Reguly

From Friday's Globe and Mail Last updated on Saturday, Jun. 27, 2009 05:17AM EDT

Canadians like to think of themselves as the peacekeepers of the world, beloved for their civilized ways. The Maple Leaf has been the decal of choice for travelling backpackers for decades. But mention Canada to your average European and, increasingly, you get looks of disapproval. The ugly truth is that many Europeans associate Canada with dead seals in the same way Norway and Japan instantly conjure up images of dead whales. Blood in the water, blood on the ice-for most of the world, it's the same thing. In case anyone needed a graphic reminder, this past May, Governor-General Michaëlle Jean gobbled down a raw seal heart for all to see at an Inuit feast.

Canada also keeps promoting the bloody image through its endless defence of the Atlantic harp seal hunt, even though the slaughter makes no political, moral or economic sense. This past spring, when the European Union voted to ban the import of almost all seal products, Canadian politicians and diplomats had yet another pro-sealing spasm. Even before the vote, and as Canada and the EU were launching free trade negotiations, International Trade Minister Stockwell Day vowed to appeal to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Not to be outdone on the blubberhead PR front, the Bloc Québécois introduced a motion in Parliament to try to integrate seal pelts into the uniforms of Canadian athletes at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics (fur-lined jockstraps, perhaps?). MPs from all parties voted in favour.

Canada's pro-sealing campaign began in the mid-1960s, when the world was first treated to TV broadcasts of the annual clubbing orgy, but Ottawa has not scored a single major PR victory. In 1972, the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act banned trade in marine mammal products. In the 1980s, the European Community banned the trade in products from "whitecoats" -newborn harp seals. In the past decade Mexico, Belgium and the Netherlands extended the ban to almost all seal products.

In one sense, the anti-sealing mob was, and remains, delighted by Canada's refusal to say "uncle," for the simple reason that the discord pays them well. The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) was launched in 1969 in New Brunswick to fight the seal hunt. Today it's run out of Cape Cod, and it's one of the world's largest animal activist groups. The Humane Society International and PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) are two other groups fuelled, in large part, by anti-sealing donors and campaigners, among them Paul McCartney, Brigitte Bardot and Pamela Anderson.

Why Canada persists in supporting sealing is a mystery. Officially, the EU's ban on seal products and the launch of the free trade talks with Canada aren't linked. But Canada needs the trade deal more than the Europeans. Canada would gain free trade and investment access to 500 million EU citizens, against the EU's access to 33 million Canadians.

What's most remarkable is that Canada's seal hunt is probably a net economic loss if you factor in the costs of the ceaseless overseas lobbying effort and the Canadian Coast Guard's role in the hunt. In a new study, University of Guelph economics professor John Livernois concludes that "the benefits of ending the commercial hunt exceed the costs."

Canada's total seal-product exports to the EU were a mere $6 million last year. Sealers often reach their pelt quota days after the hunt starts, and Livernois estimated their annual individual earnings to be either $281 or $327. The real figure may be lower, because boat-insurance costs might be higher than sealers admit. Hull damage, for example, is routine. As fuel prices start climbing again, and as the trade bans push down pelt prices, profits will likely stay low unless Asian buyers fill the void.

Why not buy off the sealers? Economists and a few enlightened politicians have raised that idea before. But determining the fairest way to compensate sealers for the lost income has been elusive. Livernois has a clever idea: Issue ITQs-individual transferable quotas-to them. The ITQs' market value would be known because they could be leased or sold internally-among the thousands of sealers themselves-and externally. Animal rights groups could buy ITQs and retire them. Buy enough and the Canadian seal hunt would disappear.

The worst possible strategy for our international image, Canadian taxpayers and the trade talks with the EU would be a renewed pro-sealing campaign. Yet Ottawa is already gearing up for a fresh assault. After 40 years of losing, this constitutes, at best, masochism.

The anti-sealing mob was, and remains, delighted by Canada's refusal to say "uncle"