Torontovibe
Senior Member
Good!
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City councillors wants to ban shark fin soup
- Thread starter Eug
- Start date
ItsTehBean
New Member
Mississauga has just lost its customers to Toronto! Bravo! First they elected that nutjob McGuinty, and now this idiocy!
Eug
Senior Member
Nah I think they've just shifted the business elsewhere. Probably Markham will get a good chunk of the dried sharkfin and soup business now.
dt_toronto_geek
Superstar
That was part of the debate for Councillors with Wards that border other cities and the argument was that areas like Markham, Vaughan, Pickering etc. will follow suit before it hits the Federal level, or the Supreme Court. The ban doesn't begin until November 2012 but it sends a strong message along with Brampton & Mississauga to other cities across Canada. This is not a "left" or "right" issue, it's about saving sharks, the ocean's top predator. Some species are already collapsing which is devastating and will take decades to repopulate, if ever, unless action is taken soon world-wide.
Eug
Senior Member
This is an issue about inappropriate use of councillors' time for an issue they don't seem to understand.
Like I said before, if the federal government were to ban this, I would have no qualms about the ban. This shouldn't be under the jurisdiction of City Council, but overzealous council members have decided they trump the federal government's decisions.
I liken this ban to the ban on seal hunting. The ban in other countries against Canadian seal pelts isn't because of good scientific merit. I applaud Michaëlle Jean for her stance on the issue.
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Bogtrotter
Senior Member
Glad this went through, if not just for the fact that it brings greater attention to the issue. Not just the issue of cruelty but overfishing sharks in general, and moreover the indiscriminate plundering of the seas by long liners, trawlers and factory ships in an unsustainable way. Most of our seas are bereft of the life they once had just a century ago, there are only a few small pockets of ocean and healthy reefs left at this point for fish and marine life to thrive. A nation-wide ban would be better though- I do agree.
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ItsTehBean
New Member
Would this lead to a feud similar to seal product ban between Canada and European Union?
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2009/05/05/eu-seal-ban-505.html
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2009/05/05/eu-seal-ban-505.html
dt_toronto_geek
Superstar
Precisely. A movement has to begin somewhere, and it has begun. This will move to the Federal level next.
Eug
Senior Member
I posted this article in the elephant thread, but it belongs here as well. It echos exactly what I was talking about. I really have little patience for these self-proclaimed do-gooders who don't really understand the issues and repeatedly ignore the advice of their own in-house or outside experts.
Marcus Gee @ The Globe And Mail: Political animals vote to move elephants, save sharks
Tuesday was Doctor Doolittle Day at city hall. Putting aside the welfare of mere humans, city councillors spent hours debating the fate of our animal cousins the shark and the elephant. In each case, their itch to strike a blow for animal rights led them to override both logic and the advice of their own experts.
City staff told council it had no business banning shark-fin soup. Marine conservation, they said, was a matter for the federal government, not the city, and a ban would expose the city to the threat of lawsuits. Councillors went ahead and banned it anyway. Surrendering to sentiment and a slick lobby by animal-welfare groups, they voted 38-4 to impose a ban starting next September. Mayor Rob Ford, it should be noted, was one of the sensible four who voted against.
Oh and speaking about the seal hunt:
In stepped Michelle Berardinetti, a rookie Scarborough councillor with a passion for animal welfare and a background fighting the seal and spring bear hunts. She spearheaded the move to short circuit the zoo talks and send the elephants instead to the PAWS Sanctuary in San Andreas, Calif., where they will enjoy 80 acres of roaming space and a “therapeutic Jacuzzi” for their arthritis. She calls the decision a “Free Willy moment.”
Marcus Gee @ The Globe And Mail: Political animals vote to move elephants, save sharks
Tuesday was Doctor Doolittle Day at city hall. Putting aside the welfare of mere humans, city councillors spent hours debating the fate of our animal cousins the shark and the elephant. In each case, their itch to strike a blow for animal rights led them to override both logic and the advice of their own experts.
City staff told council it had no business banning shark-fin soup. Marine conservation, they said, was a matter for the federal government, not the city, and a ban would expose the city to the threat of lawsuits. Councillors went ahead and banned it anyway. Surrendering to sentiment and a slick lobby by animal-welfare groups, they voted 38-4 to impose a ban starting next September. Mayor Rob Ford, it should be noted, was one of the sensible four who voted against.
Oh and speaking about the seal hunt:
In stepped Michelle Berardinetti, a rookie Scarborough councillor with a passion for animal welfare and a background fighting the seal and spring bear hunts. She spearheaded the move to short circuit the zoo talks and send the elephants instead to the PAWS Sanctuary in San Andreas, Calif., where they will enjoy 80 acres of roaming space and a “therapeutic Jacuzzi” for their arthritis. She calls the decision a “Free Willy moment.”
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Bogtrotter
Senior Member
There is nobody who cares more about animals than those who take up their care and study professionally. I give thumbs up to 'free willy' moments- as long as it is done in consultation with experienced animal experts and veterinarians.
Eug
Senior Member
Poison threat over Toronto shark fin use
Toronto police are investigating a slanderous letter from a supposed animal rights group threatening to poison food in Chinese markets and restaurants.
The letter, which makes reference to both Toronto’s newly-passed shark fin ban and the Chinese community’s use of shark fin in food, was received by an official at the Toronto Chinese Business Association on Tuesday.
Sent by the Animal Liberation of USA/Canada, the letter is rife with racial slurs, refers to Chinese people as “barbarians” and “animal killers,” and claims that members of the liberation are “in your Chinatowns spreading rat poison on meat, fish, fruit and vegetables.”
It also said a “head office” in the U.S. will be supplying the organization with e-coli bacteria.
Toronto police are investigating a slanderous letter from a supposed animal rights group threatening to poison food in Chinese markets and restaurants.
The letter, which makes reference to both Toronto’s newly-passed shark fin ban and the Chinese community’s use of shark fin in food, was received by an official at the Toronto Chinese Business Association on Tuesday.
Sent by the Animal Liberation of USA/Canada, the letter is rife with racial slurs, refers to Chinese people as “barbarians” and “animal killers,” and claims that members of the liberation are “in your Chinatowns spreading rat poison on meat, fish, fruit and vegetables.”
It also said a “head office” in the U.S. will be supplying the organization with e-coli bacteria.
Cast_Member
Active Member
As a Canadian born to Chinese parents, I don't really mind about shark fin soup ban but however I found the threat somewhat nonsensical. For example in the threat, it states e-coli is a "virus" instead of bacteria and warn the Chinese community not to eat at the Mandarin. Since when the Mandarin serve actual Chinese food? The letters says the "organization" wants to poison us and yet warn us not eat at the Mandarin. This is somewhat confusing. I wonder how the person would blend within the Chinese community without getting caught? Chinese supermarkets are always busy. As much I found the letter as offensive, I'm not intimidated by the threat.
RC8
Senior Member
The letter is pathetic and was probably sent by a teenager or someone with serious mental issues.
It doesn't mean that the ban isn't warranted, however.
Conservative people will always complain about change when it makes life even slightly more inconvenient for them. Not selling shark fins in the GTA will save hundreds of sharks, that's a certainty. Arguments like 'the ban is ridiculous at the city level' always come from people who would not support a ban in the first place.
Every novel policy that tries to improve on something by asking for a sacrifice of any kind is always met with an opposition. Many of the Chinese who oppose this measure have more in common with the racist whites who refused to accept Chinese people into society than with the ones who joined them to protect their rights.
It doesn't mean that the ban isn't warranted, however.
Conservative people will always complain about change when it makes life even slightly more inconvenient for them. Not selling shark fins in the GTA will save hundreds of sharks, that's a certainty. Arguments like 'the ban is ridiculous at the city level' always come from people who would not support a ban in the first place.
Every novel policy that tries to improve on something by asking for a sacrifice of any kind is always met with an opposition. Many of the Chinese who oppose this measure have more in common with the racist whites who refused to accept Chinese people into society than with the ones who joined them to protect their rights.
