World Animal Protection says animal welfare is an election issue

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When casting your vote in Monday’s federal election, will you take into account each party’s stand on animal welfare?

Melissa Matlow, campaign director for World Animal Protection (WAP) Canada, thinks you should with the Liberals, NDP, Conservative, and Green Party including that issue in their platforms.

(Those four parties plus the Bloc Quebecois also responded to a survey on the subject that WAP sent.)

“Canadians care passionately about animal suffering,” said Matlow.

“We’ve shown this through polling, through the number of letters into government. I think we’ve heard former ministers say they’ve received more letters on this issue than any other issues in their portfolio. It’s also connected to some of the other pressing issues whether it’s climate change or preventing future pandemics.”

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Matlow says whoever you vote for, there’s enough support for animal welfare across all party platforms that makes WAP optimistic about the future beyond Monday.

“We’re really excited by the fact that all of the parties commented on the need to address the wildlife trade in the next parliament regardless of who forms government,” she said.

Matlow says the COVID-19 pandemic has showed the connection between the global commercial wildlife trade and deadly diseases with 75% of new or emerging infectious diseases over the past decade like SARS and Ebola originating from animals, specifically wildlife.

Since wildlife trade likely played a role in the COVID-19 outbreak, WAP has been urging Ottawa to take action to curb the global commercial trade to prevent future pandemics.

“We found through our own review of government data that at least 1.8 million wild animals were imported into Canada over a five year period (2014-2019) from 76 countries and 93% were not subject to permits or pathogens screening,” said Matlow. “So to me that signifies a particular problem.”

She says there’s a demand for wild animals to be used for traditional medicine, luxury fashion or as exotic pets.

Matlow says a recent EKOS Research poll showed 70% of Canadians believe animal welfare ranges from somewhat to very important when deciding who to vote for, particularly amongst female and Green Party voters.

The poll also showed half of Canadians are very concerned about the environmental impact of eating animals, such as the rise in greenhouse gas emissions.

Otherwise, Matlow says WAP has created a new area on their website https://www.worldanimalprotection.ca/voteforanimals called Vote for Animals to “help inform voters of the party positions on animal welfare before they vote.”