{"id":97411,"date":"2025-10-25T13:41:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T13:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/97411\/"},"modified":"2025-10-25T13:41:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T13:41:15","slug":"ontario-tells-federal-government-to-approve-marineland-whale-transfer-to-china-nova-scotia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/97411\/","title":{"rendered":"Ontario tells federal government to approve Marineland whale transfer to China, Nova Scotia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ontario\u2019s Solicitor General<\/a> claims Marineland<\/a>\u2018s 30 beluga whales are \u201cnot in Ontario\u2019s jurisdiction\u201d as he amps up the pressure on the Federal government to approve export permits to China and Nova Scotia.<\/p>\n

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Earlier this month<\/a>, the Niagara Falls amusement park threatened to euthanize its remaining belugas<\/a> after Federal Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson denied Marineland\u2019s request for an export permit to move the whales to an aquarium in China.<\/p>\n

Thompson said she denied the request<\/a> because she did not want to subject the belugas to a future of performing in captivity, consistent with a federal law passed in 2019.<\/p>\n

When the situation reached a standstill, Marineland said it was \u201cactively working with the provincial government to find a suitable solution\u201d for the whales.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, however, Solicitor General Michael Kerzner appeared to punt the responsibility back to the federal government while claiming the Ontario government is \u201cnot abandoning the whales.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe think it\u2019s urgent that the federal government revisit the necessary documents on the export permit, and to sign it so at least some whales can go to China and maybe some can go to Nova Scotia,\u201d Kerzner told journalists at Queen\u2019s Park.<\/p>\n

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While Nova Scotia\u2019s government just approved<\/a> the construction of North America\u2019s first coastal refuge for retired theme park whales, the sanctuary would only be able to take 10 of the 30 whales.<\/p>\n

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Marineland has said there are no viable alternatives<\/a> in the world other than China\u2019s Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, which could take all 30 belugas.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we want to see is that the federal government not abrogate their responsibility,\u201d Kerner said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a viable alternative that Marineland came forward with to see the whales live their next life\u2019s chapter. And I really believe that that would help the situation dramatically,\u201d Kerzner said.<\/p>\n

When asked what specifically Ontario was doing to help the welfare of the whales, Kerzner said \u201cthe action is [he\u2019s] continuing to advocate\u201d to the federal government.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s not in Ontario\u2019s jurisdiction, to help the whales with their next life\u2019s chapter,\u201d Kerzner said.<\/p>\n

In fact, the welfare of animals<\/a> in Ontario and the enforcement of the Provincial Animal Welfare Services<\/a> (PAWS) act, falls within Kerzner\u2019s responsibilities as the Solicitor General \u2013 which Kerzner later acknowledged.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, we are responsible for the Provincial Animal Welfare Services Act, and we have a very, very strong piece of legislation that sets the expectation and tone for everybody to care for their animals,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Kerzner also rebuffed calls for the government to seize the whales<\/a> in place, which could leave Ontario taxpayers on the hook for the hefty bill of $1-$2 million per month to feed, house and care for the mammals.<\/p>\n

Again, Kerzner claimed his government didn\u2019t have the power.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a private business. We can\u2019t go in and seize anything. What we want to do is firstly, make sure that all the animals in Ontario are cared for under the provisions of the PAWS Act.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, the PAWS law specifically outlines that an animal welfare inspector can \u201cseize any animal\u201d<\/a> in Ontario without a warrant if the inspector has determined the act has been breached.<\/p>\n

Kerzner finally suggested that other than weekly inspections the provincial government is looking to \u201clet the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans take the lead and help the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ontario\u2019s Solicitor General claims Marineland\u2018s 30 beluga whales are \u201cnot in Ontario\u2019s jurisdiction\u201d as he amps up the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97412,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64908,85,46,48426,48427,238,141,386],"class_list":{"0":"post-97411","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-beluga-whales","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-marineland","12":"tag-ontario-politics","13":"tag-politics","14":"tag-science","15":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}