Saturday, October 8, 2011

Beyond the Myth coming to Toronto November 5, 6th

We, the Dog Legislation Council of Canada, along with Cover Y'All Productions are pleased to announce the Premiere screening of Beyond the Myth November 5, 6th at Fox Theatre in Toronto.


Fox Theatre


2236 Queen Street East


Screenings


November 5, 2011 7:00 pm


November 6, 2011 4:00 pm


Tickets are $10.00



Purchase tickets here




Beyond the Myth is a film about 'pitbulls' and those who love and defend them. It explores the contributing factors behind the public's generalized fear of 'pitbulls' and examines the conflict existing between advocates and opponents of Breed Specific Legislation (BSL). It also investigates the myths associated with the breed and asks the question, what exactly is a 'pitbull'? 


Viewers are taken on a journey to four U.S. cities where Breed Specific Legislation focusing on "pit bulls" has profoundly
impacted people and animals: Denver, Miami, Cincinnati, and San Francisco. 



Beyond the Myth Canada Premiere is Sponsored by Soft-Pull Leashes and the Dog Legislation Council of Canada (DLCC).

The documentary intelligently explores the contributing factors behind the public's generalized fear of  "pit bulls", and examines the conflict existing between advocates and opponents of breed discriminatory laws, commonly referred to as breed bans. It investigates the myths associated with these breeds, challenges the idea that they are inherently vicious, presents eye-opening research regarding the media's role in influencing people's opinion on dog attacks.

Both before and after the film you may mingle in the lobby with members from both organizations, purchase merchandise and pick up informational materials. Please plan to arrive early (doors open at 6pm Saturday and 3pm on Sunday) as we are expecting a large, possibly sold out crowd. 



   

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Reason # 43 McGuinty MUST GO!


Honestly if any person even considers voting for the low life, dishonest Liberals, you seriously need your head read!
Christina Blizzard (love her) revealed another unbelievable tidbit.
Voters are opening up their mail this week to find “Accounting summaries” that set out payments made to them for the HST transition payment and the Ontario Energy and Property Tax credit paid to seniors.
One person who contacted me had received an “accounting” for more than $200: $100 for the third part of the HST rebate — sent out in June — and $139 for the Energy and Property Tax credit.
Another person, west-end Toronto resident Ala Gettlich discovered the letter when she picked up the mail for her elderly mother.
Dated Sept. 27, the notice included a partisan political message from Premier Dalton McGuinty — just days before the provincial vote.
It’s on Government of Ontario letterhead and gives the return address as Sudbury.
“Ontario’s tax changes will help create almost 600,000 new jobs by making our province more attractive for new business investments and provide tax relief with personal income tax cuts. As part of that plan, the federal and provincial sales taxes were merged into a single sales tax — the HST,” says the note.
“To help you through this transition, you are receiving the third payment of the Sales Tax Transition Benefit. This is in addition to personal income tax cuts that started in 2010.”
The letter lists the provincial Ministry of Revenue website and is signed, “Sincerely, Dalton McGuinty, Premier of Ontario.
“Your payment of $100 has been direct deposited into your bank account,” it goes on.
Except the credit was made in June and these notices were sent out just a couple of days ago.

Reason # 42 McGuinty MUST GO!


An article from the National Post today.
While attending an Energy Probe board of directors meeting almost a year ago (we are both directors), several of us around the table - as might be expected - discussed the Ontario government's Green Energy Act and wondered aloud about the hidden costs associated with the act. Some speculated that the act might lead to a doubling of Ontario's power rates. Could that possibly be true?

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Bryant; No repentance but close!

So is Bryant dating Nikki Holland?


Bryant's pit bull legislation bites back

Finally, some proof of canine karma.
As attorney general in 2005, Michael Bryant banned pit bulls in Ontario. But now he’s separated from his wife and dating a woman who told him she “doesn’t know if she can get past it.”
“She’s a dog lover,” said Bryant, insisting he is, too.
While Bryant says he wouldn’t change his decision to ban pit bulls, he regrets the fallout at the time.
“I think some people got demonized by their own neighbours by virtue of owning a pit bull,” he said. “And that was never the intention.”

Read on



Monday, October 3, 2011

Durham couple spend $15,000 in court over dog bite

A woman in Durham spent $15,000 fighting in court for her dog's life. The owner of a lab was charged under DOLA after a bite incident at her home. 


Whitby woman spent $15,000 fighting dog's death penalty

The party was winding down when it happened. The young woman had shown up at Lindsay Olender's Brooklin home at about 3 a.m. as a guest of someone else. Visibly drunk, she'd been lying on the living room floor playing with Ms. Olender's nine-year-old dog, a yellow lab named Symba. 
Then something happened. The dog bit the young woman, and all of a sudden there was blood pouring from a wound on her face. A friend rushed her to the hospital for treatment. Ms. Olender was assured in a phone call the young woman would be OK.

YASIR NAQVI, OTTAWA CENTRE 'RESPONDS' TO OUR SURVEY

Guest author Caveat wrote this educational and informative response to Liberal candidate Yasir Naqvi Ottawa Centre.


Mr Naqvi sent along the canned reponse prepared for all candidates by Big Daddy Dalton.  Heaven forbid a candidate should actually voice their own opinion!  I decided to respond to Mr Naqvi because that's the kind of person I am.


Yasir and Bella!

Dear Mr Naqvi,
Thank you very much for responding to the Dog Legislation Council of Canada's survey on a topic important to informed dog owners with a form letter prepared for all candidates by Dalton McGuinty.  For your information, he did the same thing last time and it was just as risible. 
While I understand that Mr McGuinty runs a tight ship (a ship from which the largest of the rats have already exited), I would expect a more thoughtful response, especially from a fellow dog owner such as yourself.  I fully realize this is difficult, since Mr McGuinty has a policy which forbids boat-rocking of any kind.  This includes speaking on behalf of constituents rather than supporting Mr McGuinty's interests.  Ah, the hollow shell we call democracy these days is but a shadow of its former self.
But I digress.
Thanks for sending along a picture of you with your dog, Bella.  It always pleases me when we receive these pictures because it gives me a chance to educate.  Education is what I'm all about, and I'm not even a member of a union.  I do it for nothing.  Go figure.
Anyway, I note that you seem to own a 'husky' type of dog, either purebred or of mixed, and therefore unknowable, ancestry.  You must be unaware of the fact that the number one dog in Canada for fatalities, including fatalities involving children, is the 'husky' type.  It was 24 dead at last count, dating back to 1983 only.  In comparison, there has been one fatality reliably attributed to a 'pit bull' type, occurring in 1995 in Toronto.
Now, obviously, packs of slavering 'huskies' aren't running through the streets bent on mayhem, randomly attacking passers-by.  
No, these fatalities, like all dog bite-related fatalities and in fact all dog attacks, can be traced to human error.  It's the conditions under which dogs are kept and how they are managed that leads to bites and attacks.
There's no such thing as a 'husky'.  It's a slang term for a shape of randomly bred dog - a mutt, if you will - a dog of mixed, and therefore unknowable, ancestry.
Much like a 'pit bull'.
Now, stop me if you already know this:  There's no such thing as a 'pit bull'.  It's a slang term for a shape of randomly bred dog - a mutt, if you will - a dog of mixed, and therefore unknowable, ancestry.
You look like an intelligent person, if a bit keen for my liking, considering what you are representing.  
Tell me how a mixed breed dog of who-knows-what ancestry can possibly exhibit 'breed' characteristics.
Tell me how a mixed breed dog can be identified by someone who has been bitten and is likely not a dog person, by a newsie, by an animal services person, by anybody, anywhere, when all dogs are alike genetically, be they the most highly prized purebreds or the lowliest pariahs in the street.
Tell me why three purebred dogs have been banned in Ontario when 1) they are so rare that most people will never see one and b) there has never been a reported bite by a member of any of those three breeds.
It is interesting the way Mr McGuinty and his minions like to cherry-pick.  He's managed to scrape up two supposed 'pit bull' attacks over the past four years.  Bravo!  This just goes to prove to those of us who think rationally that per usual, so-called 'pit bulls' are as safe as all other dogs, mainly because they ARE just dogs:  Short-haired mutts that people love just as much as I love my Griffons or you love your 'husky', Bella.
Contrary to the mythology promulgated on both sides of the issue, one cannot breed dogs to be aggressive, to like humans and not like dogs, to be a good 'family' dog or any of the rest of it.  Dogs can only be conditioned to be so.  You cannot breed for behaviour, you can only transer physiological characteristics that might make certain behaviours easier to shape.   That is what the science says and trust me, I've been delving into it deeply since the summer of 2004 when this disgusting witch hunt began.  As my esteemed colleague says: "If we can breed dogs for behaviour, then why aren't we breeding them to heel?". 
It would be interesting to read through a list of all the dog-on-dog attacks that have taken place over the past seven years but I know full well that information will remain closeted, just like the information we requested regarding how much money the government has wasted on its useless, discriminatory "pit bull" ban.  I know how much we spent going through the courts so I expect they blew at least ten times that amount, based on past behaviour by this government.  You know, 'the best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour' and all that jazz.
Here's a fact for you:  99.9% of all dogs will never bite anybody.
My objections to the legislation have little to do with dogs, much as I care for them, and a lot to do with dog owners' rights.
Here are a couple of cases for you to consider:
- A middled-aged accountant in Brampton had his front door kicked in and his unoffending dog abducted because Animal Services were on a vendetta against perceived 'pit bulls' in that city.  The same thing happened to a woman in her 70s up the street.  Both dogs were at the pound for three months, were identified by AS's own vet as not 'pit bulls' and were released back to the owner in not such great shape.  Guess who won't be voting Liberal in this election?
- A young Vietnamese man in Mississauga took his dog to be neutered at a new clinic and was ratted out to Animal Services for owning a "pit bull" that was too young to be in Ontario. Two years of pain and thousands of dollars later, the court found his dog was NOT a "pit bull" but a Boxer cross as he had stated from the beginning.  Guess who won't be voting Liberal this time?
I could go on and on, I am contacted daily by people, usually young men from visible minorities or those who have low incomes, to help them save their beloved dogs from this horrendous situation in Ontario.
Mr McGuinty, in the face of overwhelming opposition by experts, dog owners and members of the general public, went ahead with this legislation which has failed (and largely been repealed), everywhere it has been tried.  The Committee process was perverted and turned into an Inquisition - go figure.  He whipped the vote, as he likes to do, because even members of his own caucus were uncomfortable with the idea of legislated discriminatinon, a two-tiered justice system.
In Ontario, we now have warrantless entry into a residence on a pretext, warrantless search and seizure in public, restrictions on mobility, reverse onus - in this case a defendant must prove an impossible negative, that their dog is NOT a 'breed' that doesn't exisit - discrimination based on the physical appearance of otherwise universally legal property, overbreadth and vagueness to the point of creating a reign of terror among dog owners in this province.
That is what you support when you parrot Mr McGuinty's campfire tales for the weak of mind.
As a Canadian, I believe that legislation should govern behaviour, not physical appearance.
Here's a tip for you:  If you have to have your dog in a strangle-hold in order to have her picture taken, she needs much more exercise and some good obedience training.  A 'husky' type is built to be an endurance breed so a walk around the block isn't going to be enough.  You might consider a treadmil, although the animal rights/liberation crew that lobbied Mr Zimmer so successfully might brand you a dog-fighter if you own one, so be careful.  Bring it in at night.
I hope I have given you something to think about and I thank you again for your response to our survey.  It made my day.
Regards,
Selma Mulvey
Somebody else who won't be voting 'Liberal'