Canadian businesses involved with the country's sealing industry should be heartened by the government's recent complaint to the World Trade Organization, after negotiations with the European Union did not produce a lifting of that group's ban on Canadian seal products.
EU trade spokesman John Clancy told Reuters Canada that the ban would be upheld.
"This particular legislation has been carefully crafted to ensure respect for all of our international obligations, while at the same time responding to the concerns expressed by EU citizens in respect of seal products from certain hunts," he said.
However, Canada has insisted the sealing industry creates jobs for its citizens and money for the economy, and that the EU's ban is illegitimate and unsound. Agence France-Presse says the practice is widely viewed as animal cruelty among animal rights campaigners and that the EU's ban is based on those concerns.
Canadian small business people should take heart, however - Reuters says the dispute will not affect larger EU-Canada trade relations, which represent billions of dollars worth of trade each year.
