The Green party has appointed a Montreal candidate and self-described “social entrepreneur” as its critic on animal issues, splitting animal concerns from other forms of agriculture as a policy area.
“The complexity of the animal issue makes it necessary to split it off from other agriculture,” Sameer Muldeen said in an interview. “It is a more sensitive issue and one that we want to start a more in-depth debate about in Canada.”
He said the Green party wants to promote a two-pronged debate on animal issues in Canada – the need for better legal protection for animals from inhumane practices and the need to make Canadians question the amount of meat they eat and whether it should be produced in large operations.
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“Mr. Muldeen’s role will be especially concerned with the status and welfare of animals in the Canadian legislation,” said a Green party announcement.
In the interview, he said Canadians should re-examine the recent trend to increased livestock production for both export and domestic markets and the trend toward larger operations.
“This issue is especially important given the 2006 United Nations report demonstrating that livestock account for 18 percent of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions, more than the entire transport industry combined,” he said. “What I want Canadians to start thinking about is that this is not necessary. It is healthier for the environment and for the population to reduce large scale farming.”
Muldeen said large-scale livestock operations are “less sustainable” than small-scale farms where animals are less crowded.
And he argued that consumers should begin to think about whether they eat too much meat.
“I am not arguing for a vegetarian diet but we have to educate Canadians about the fact that they do not need to consume as much meat as they do to be healthy,” he said.
In its announcement, the Green party promised that if Green MPs are elected to Parliament, they “will sponsor legislation that makes acts of cruelty to animals an offence under the criminal code and not just a property offence as it stands now.”
Muldeen said he does not yet have the answer to an acceptable cruelty-to-animals bill, but the current legislation that was created almost 120 years ago with minor adjustments last year is not adequate.
“The first step is to talk about it,” he said. “I cannot say what legislation is right or wrong but people need to talk about this and decide.”
He is the party candidate in the Montreal riding of LaSalle-mard, a solid Liberal riding represented for 20 years by former prime minister Paul Martin before he retired in 2008.
