If Germany wants to ban Canadian seal meat, then Canada should ban Germany's boar and deer meat, a member of Parliament from Newfoundland and Labrador said Thursday.

Liberal MP Scott Simms was reacting to news that German legislators are considering a seal product ban because they're concerned that the seal hunt in Canada is unethical and inhumane.

Simms intends to introduce a bill in the House of Commons on Friday that calls for a ban on German boar and venison imports.

He argued that if any hunt was questionable, it would be Germany's wild boar and deer hunt. Half a million wild boars and a million deer are shot by hunters each year in Germany.

"You clean up your yard before you push something through ours," Simms said of Germany.

Simms, who represents the riding of Bonavista-Gander-Grand Falls-Windsor, also took aim at the celebrity animal-rights activists who have been attacking Canada's seal hunt for decades.

"The next time Brigitte Bardot or Heather Mills McCartney want to come to Canada to hug a seal pup, why don't they stay in Germany and try saving Bambi for a change," Simms said.

On Monday, German Agricultural Minister Horst Seehofer said he would introduce legislation to ban seal product imports. Canadian sealers and politicians fear such a ban will have a serious impact on Canada, since Germany is one of the top three importers of Canadian seal pelts.

Seehofer's announcement comes two months after Belgium passed a ban on seal imports, becoming the first country in the European Union to do so. In February, Britain said it was in favour of a EU-wide ban.

Canadian seal hunter Mark Small said Thursday that a Europe-wide ban would be devastating. He is urging Canada to take action to prevent any bans.

"I'm telling you, there's an urgency there," said Small, who has worked in the industry for 40 years.

He said when Europe banned white seal pup pelts imports in 1983, it nearly destroyed Canada's seal industry.

Canada followed suit by banning the commercial hunt of baby harp and hooded seals in 1987.

The federal government has long maintained that the seal hunt is humane and an important source of income for Atlantic fishermen. Currently, more than 6,000 Atlantic Canadians are employed by the annual hunt.

Animal-rights activists call the hunt cruel and say seals are clubbed to death, causing them to suffer. The celebrities who have joined the fight against the hunt include Canadian actress Pamela Anderson, French actress Bardot, ex-Beatle Paul McCartney and his estranged wife Heather Mills McCartney.