Ontarios main party leaders pledge to help whales at Marineland [Video]

The leaders of Ontario’s main political parties pledged Monday to help the remaining animals at Marineland should they win the election.

The Niagara Falls, Ont., tourist attraction euthanized a seven-year-old beluga whale last week after a lengthy battle with numerous medical issues. It is the 18th beluga whale to die at the park since late 2019.

Marineland has long defended its treatment of animals at the park, saying the deaths are part of the cycle of life.

Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford said Monday the whale deaths were “terrible.”

“It’d be great just to let them free, but what I understand, if you let them free in the ocean, they’re done, they’re dead,” Ford said at a campaign stop in Oakville, Ont.

“So we’re going to make sure that they still take care of these whales.”

Opposition parties criticized the Ford government’s handling of the animal deaths at Marineland, with …