Rambo waves bye bye to ban-o-ville

Rambo, the red dog from Mississauga who went for a jaunt last Christmas day, has bid his last farewell to this ban ridden province.
There is a great article, by John Stewart, at the Mississauga Blog.
The article is entitled "Rambo finds the open road".

Seriously? No seriously?

Just when you think things can't get any further from the common sense factor, they do.
Let's recap the week.
Tuesday Oct 24 Mississauga formally announced they have changed policy toward enforcement of the ban. Animal control in Mississauga, population 650,000 people and it is Canada's sixth largest city. It is also worth noting it is the riding of Bob Delaney (Fiberal MPP who chaired the committee hearings for the ban). It is worth reading back through the Hansard for committee hearings to refresh your memory. 102 presentations, 86 opposed the ban.


Hansard to 
committee hearings Monday January 24, 2006


January 27, 2006


February 2, 2006


February 3, 2006


The vote February 10, 2006


October 24, 2008 the city of Ottawa quote: 


The City of Ottawa says it will act when a dog of any breed presents a threat to public safety, but the city is not trying to crack down on pit bull-type dogs because it doesn't have the resources to do so, and the law pertaining to the dogs is difficult to enforce.


Worth noting this is Premier McGunity's riding.
Same day, Oct 24, 2008 the decision is released from the appellate court not only denying our appeal but allowing the cross appeal from the government side reinstating what was struck in the initial decision by Justice Thea Herman.


All I have to say is WTF? Dude?

Ontario Court of Appeal holds up the ban

It's a sad day for rights in Ontario, and in Canada. 
Here is the ruling:
http://www.ontariocourts.on.ca/decisions/2008/october/2008ONCA0718.htm
So Ontario continues to ban a breed that does not exist, as well as three rare breeds that do exist, and anything that is substantially similar to those breeds.  Substantially similar.  If you own a dog with short hair, I'd consider moving if you like your dog.  Only where to?  What Province might next pass an unnecessary law, which by the way some municipalities refuse to even enforce because it's so convoluted and ridiculous?
I guess I still can't go home.  This ruling proves once again that the media truly is the largest powerholder in our country.  To have the bill introduced on a rash of unbalanced media coverage.  To have that coverage viewed in the same manner as numerical data would be viewed in both the legislature and in the court system.  Wow, that's an amazing gain of power for the media.
Visit http://caveat.blogware.com/ for a great article on this decision.  I can't say it any better, and I am, quite frankly, too depressed at the moment to even try.

Ottawa not enforcing the "pitbull" ban

There's a good article in the Ottawa Citizen today (thanks to Lori for sending it along).
It explains why the City of Ottawa, our nation's capital, is ignoring the provincial ban on the much-mythologized but nonexistent 'pit bull' type of dog.

Provincially banned canines common in Ottawa

Officials will act against dangerous animals, but lack resources to enforce law

Patrick Dare, The Ottawa Citizen

Published: Friday, October 24, 2008

OTTAWA - The Ontario government was on a mission a few years ago to rid the province of pit bull-type dogs and passed a law to ban them. But, in Ottawa, the animals are commonplace and city officials are opting to let them alone, as long as they behave.
The City of Ottawa says it will act when a dog of any breed presents a threat to public safety, but the city is not trying to crack down on pit bull-type dogs because it doesn't have the resources to do so, and the law pertaining to the dogs is difficult to enforce.
Susan Jones, director of bylaw enforcement for Ottawa, says that Ontario municipalities told the provincial government in 2005 that they would need some help from the province if it wanted a crackdown on the dogs. No assistance was sent.

According to this report, 300 calls have been received about purported 'pit bulls' since January, 2006, which averages to about 10 per month.  This sounds like a lot of calls until we discover that Ottawa averages 7,000 calls a year for animal-related issues, about 200 for dog bites.  The author points out that many of these calls are from 'pit bull' type owners seeking some clarification of the vague legislation enacted by Chicken Little Bryant in 2005.  So, out of 17,500 calls since January 2006, 300, or 1.7%, related to 'pit bull' inquiries.  Per the norm, we see that 98.3% of all calls to animal control do not involve 'pit bull' types.

The article goes on to explain that the law is unenforceable and that the costs involved in court battles make enforcement fiscally irresponsible.  The average case against a dog owner in Ontario is putting between $75 - 100,000 on the taxpayers' tab.

Speaking of court battles, I wonder how much the Attorney General has wasted in defending the law in court for the past two-and-a-half years?  It's a deep, dark secret since they are not responding to information requests, even from other MPPs.  I'll ballpark it at about $10 million.  If the MAG would like to prove me wrong, feel free, but I know how much money governments waste, since they don't have to worry about keeping costs under control.

The piece points out that a lot of complaints are from people who are afraid of 'pit bulls'.  Well, duh.  The intensity of the 20-year propaganda campaign has to be having some effect, even on people who know how media play their little games.

Add to that the fact that what media hysterics have been doing is actually advertising 'pit bull' type dogs as being the baddest asses on the canine block, and the result is that a certain type of person will go out of their way to get one of these slavering beasts to parade in front of their fearful (and sadly, ignorant) neighbours.  Bummer that they rarely, if ever, live up to their penny-dreadful reputation, eh?

It's a classic chicken-and-egg scenario.

We can see that Bryant's replacement, Chris Bentley, is still serving the Kool Aid to his base of fearful ninnies (and obviously imbibing himself):

Ontario Attorney General Chris Bentley replied in a letter that the existing Ontario law banning the dogs had reduced the population, and that allowing set fines may have the effect of minimizing the seriousness of the offences. He said in his letter to the councillor that the government won't allow the change to the law.

Bentley seems almost proud of the fact that thousands of innocent domestic dogs have been killed by the McGuinty government solely because his histrionic gasbag of a predecessor reacted to a situation he knew jack about, plunging innocent citizens who love dogs into a waking nightmare.

I guess he doesn't realize that the lead counsel for the MAG defending the ban in court in May, 2006, said at the end that they would 'take out the jail time, your Honour, and make it so that the vets have to come in to testify'.  Too late, Charney, we don't make deals with those who blithely install terror in the province of Ontario for no reason other than to grab a few headlines and bask in teh unrelenting stupid that ensues.  I wonder if Bentley also knows that the same lawyer stated emphatically at the Remedy hearing that 'there is no such thing as a pit bull', that the 'purpose of the law wasn't to stop dog bites' and that 'it was the purebreds we were after, we only threw in the substantially similar [in physical appearance] clause in case somebody had a purebred and lied about it.'

Speaking of lying.

Let's hope that nightmare ends soon.  Today would be good.

Here's the whole article in the Ottawa Citizen.

Crossposted at Caveat

"Pitbull" ban unenforcable and here is the proof

I think you are all acquainted with the Rambo case in Mississauga, where the dog went for a harmless romp last Christmas Day and wound up in the pound.
Hot on the heels of Rambo was another example of profiling in Mississauga. I guess the AC department didn't learn their lesson with the Rambo case that there is NO SUCH THING as a 'pitbull' and breed standards cannot be used to identify breed/s of dogs.
The couple profiled in the latest case in Mississauga brought to light a whole new angle not thought of before. The dogs owner/s are a registered nurse and health care worker. One of the requirements of the nursing college is that any conviction for an offence that could involve jail time, even if the defendant receives a discharge, must be reported to the licensing body.
Well, we are pleased to announce the city of Mississauga, thanks to Carolyn Parrish, has changed its policy. The animal control in Mississauga will not be actively enforcing the 'pitbull' ban amendment to DOLA.
Thanks so much to Caveat for keeping us up to date on the Mississauga situation. Many thanks to John Stewart at Mississauga News for your accurate articles. Thanks very much to Carolyn Parrish for standing on the side of the dog owners in Ontario.
Oh, and BOB DELANEY... BITE ME!