Throwing a pie in the face of Canada's fisheries minister to protest the seal hunt should earn animal rights group PETA a "terrorist" label, a Canadian lawmaker said Tuesday. A seal hunt protester hit Fisheries Minister Gail Shea with a cream pie on Monday as she gave a speech in Burlington, Ontario.
The animal rights group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, later claimed responsibility for the incident. Opposition lawmaker Gerry Byrne urged for an investigation into the incident that also takes into account Shea's position as a top government official.
"When someone actually coaches or conducts criminal behavior to impose a political agenda on each and every other citizen of Canada, that does seem to me to meet the test of a terrorist organization," Byrne said.
"I am calling on the government of Canada to actually investigate whether or not this organization, PETA, is acting as a terrorist organization... under Canadian law." PETA officials dismissed Byrne's comments as a "silly, chest-beating exercise."
"It is unlikely to impress anyone who has a heart for animals or who is bright enough to spot the difference between a bomb and a tofu cream pie," PETA president Ingrid Newkirk said in a statement.
37-year-old Emily McCoy from New York City was taken into custody and charged with assault after the pie incident.
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