The Canadian government has been making plenty of accusations against seal defenders. They have even gone so far as to fabricate lies that they actually then appear to believe.

For example, Canadian Minister of Natural Resources John Efford debated Captain Paul Watson on the seal slaughter in April. Captain Watson was on his ship at sea off the coast of Newfoundland and Efford was at his desk in Ottawa.

Efford is the former Newfoundland Minister of Fisheries who publicly has advocated the extermination of the seals.

During the debate, Efford was not interested in talking science or facts concerning the seal hunt. He did not want to talk about seals at all. Instead, he accused Captain Watson of raising millions of dollars and stuffing it in offshore bank accounts. He then called Captain Watson a coward for refusing to debate him.

Captain Watson said that he had never refused to debate the Minister, and demanded that Efford set a time and place and he would meet him there. Efford ignored the challenge and went on to talk about how seal defenders were gorging themselves on lamb and veal on the Farley Mowatwhile protesting the killing of seals and called the hunt opponents hypocrites.

When Captain Watson pointed out that the Farley Mowat was a vegan ship and that meat and fish were not served in the ship's galley, Efford ignored that response and immediately plucked another fabrication from his propaganda kit. Captain Watson also demanded that the Minister produce evidence before making accusations of hoarding money in offshore accounts. "Do you think," said Captain Watson to Efford, "that it is responsible for a Federal Minister to be making unsubstantiated accusations?

Efford refused to answer.

It was a bizarre debate. What struck Captain Watson about Efford is that he appeared to actually believe everything he was saying.

Captain Watson pointed out that Sea Shepherd finances were an open book and that the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society was not a wealthy organization. In fact, it is a rather small organization with fewer than one million dollars in contributions annually and most of the budget is spent on the operation of our ships.

Captain Watson also pointed out that it was interesting that such bogus accusations were being made by a Minister of the most scandal-ridden and corrupt government in Canadian history. Canadians knew what Captain Watson was referring to without him having to explain the details.

For non-Canadians, the following is a little primer on the current elected members of the Canadian government.

Can you imagine working for a company that has a little more than 300 employees and has the following statistics:

30 have been accused of spousal abuse
9 have been arrested for fraud
14 have been accused of writing bad cheques
95 have directly or indirectly bankrupted at least 2 businesses
4 have done time for assault
55 cannot get a credit card due to bad credit
12 have been arrested on drug related charges
4 have been arrested for shoplifting
16 are currently defendants in lawsuits
62 have been arrested for drunk driving in the last year

Such is the record of the 308 Members of the Canadian Parliament.

This same Parliament unanimously endorses the annual slaughter of seals. In other words, we can find 62 drunk drivers in the Parliament of Canada and not one compassionate defender of seals. Incredibly, one third of all Members of Parliament have bankrupted a business and now are in charge of managing Canadian resources including the fisheries.

The statistics listed above do not even include the $100 million Canadian Unity slush fund that the Liberal government of Canada used to pay bribes and provide "incentives" for Liberal members of Parliament, including shopping sprees for the wife of former Prime Minister Jean Chretien.

The good news is that the Liberal government of Prime Minister Paul Martin is not expected to survive next week's vote of confidence on the Canadian budget. It looks like there will be a Canadian Federal election this summer. The bad news is that the same group of losers may all get re-elected. Why? Because the government of Canada simply does not attract people with the education, skills, and talent to hold down a real job.

However, the election will be an opportunity to see where the candidates stand on the issue of killing seals.

Of all the political parties in Canada only the Federal Green Party has a policy of opposition to the seal hunt.

Captain Paul Watson said, "I am not speaking for Sea Shepherd because this is a political issue, but I am speaking as a Canadian when I say that Canadians should not contribute to or support pro-sealing candidates and should encourage those candidates who are prepared to oppose this obscenity that has given Canada such a bad reputation around the world."

Watson elaborated by saying, "I know that governments should not be elected or defeated on single issues, but the seal slaughter is an issue that reflects the morality of the candidates involved. What kind of person could endorse the senseless, cruel clubbing of helpless, baby seals? The answer is: the same type of person who abuse their spouses, write bad checks, drive under the influence, commit assault and fraud, and run businesses into the ground - in other words, the irresponsible and egotistical Parliamentary members who have so shamefully sold out Canada to line their own pockets at the expense of the people and the nation. These are not the kind of people we need protecting our forests, our fisheries, our wilderness, and the economy. Unfortunately, these are the kind of people we've got. It's time to throw the bums out and bring in more responsible and more compassionate people with integrity and a sense of responsibility to the future."