If I decided as a devout follower of the Flying Spaghetti Monster that I can only eat animals that have been slaughtered in vats of cooked pasta, you'd laugh at the prospect of the federal government spending a cent subsidizing cow-sized pots and barrels of Barilla.Right?Well, on Friday, Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald announced Ottawa would be handing over $2.25 million to a Prince Edward Island facility to beef up halal meat production. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Turns out a whopping $25 million has been set aside for halal and kosher food production in Fiscal Years 2025-26 and 2026-27..Feds announce millions in spending on halal beef production in PEI.Yes, I know the Flying Spaghetti Monster is a meme and Islam is a religion with over a billion followers, but this isn't about that; it's about principle. Either Ottawa subsidizes all superstitious dietary desires, or none, and at the end of the day, as a secular nation, Canada has no business using taxpayer dollars to fund religious animal slaughter. So what exactly is halal anyways?The term refers to anything — food, actions, and so on — deemed permissible by prophet Mohammad. Anything that falls outside that list is declared "haram," not permitted..According to the Canadian Halal Food Certifying Agency, to be considered properly halal, a number of steps must be followed:The slaughterer (Muslim blesser) must be a sane adult Muslim, fully knowledgeable in Islamic slaughtering practices. The animal must be lawful (Halal) under Islamic law and healthy at the time of slaughter. The phrase “Bismillah, Allahu Akbar” (In the Name of Allah, Allah is the Greatest) must be pronounced at the time of each slaughter. The slaughter must sever the pulmonary artery, esophagus, jugular vein, and carotid artery in a swift and humane manner using a sharp blade.The blade must not be lifted during the cut, and the animal must not be dead prior to the slaughter.Kosher meat follows a similar procedure, though while Muslims has found workarounds to permit the pre-slaughter stunning of animals, Jews have remained steadfast in their belief that the animal must be conscious when its throat is slit. In 2023, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced new changes that would require all meat processing facilities to use electric bolts to stun animals unconscious before slaughter. To adhere to the aforementioned requirements, religious groups were allowed to do things the traditional way, so long as the animal remained in the pen for a number of minutes afterwards so the slaughterer could observe it and ensure it was not suffering. Jewish groups took the government to court, and in 2024, were granted an injunction permitting them to continue using the old method..Most countries banned the practice of slaughtering animals without first stunning them — except for religious reasons — over a hundred years ago. To this day, Canada, the United Kingdom, and numerous other nations still have exemptions on the books for the "ritual slaughter of animals."Countless animal rights groups have labelled the practice inhumane, and urged governments to remove religions' free pass. Any attempt to enforce such a rule has been met with staunch opposition by members of the Jewish, and to lesser extent, Muslim, communities..OLDCORN: Liberals $200 million racist slush fund.Regardless of how religious slaughtering of animals is done, the government should not be funding it. If a company has enough demand to start ramping up its production of halal or kosher meat, then it ought to find a subsidy-free way to ensure there's enough supply.I should note that nobody's trying to prevent Muslims or Jews from eating according to their text of choice, and arguing for such a policy would go against the freedoms granted to all Canadians. However, as the old saying goes, your freedom to swing your fist ends at my nose. In essence, do as you please, but do not make others pay for it.
