Yarmouth Mayor Wants Province Wide BSL

So the worst case scenario has presented itself - the mayor of Yarmouth has proposed province wide BSL. What a crock of shit.

We just went through this a couple years ago when the Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities tried to push through province wide BSL inside some housekeeping revisions. It started back in 2006 when the UNSM started working on it - and came to fruition in 2008 when bill 138 was proposed in the Nova Scotia Legislature - with almost no time for the public to have any input whatsoever.

But luckily - the people we voted in, listened to the public - and BSL did not get into the final tally - all the dog portions of the amendments were taken out in fact.

So to have to go through this bullshit again barely 3 years later is utter nonsense.

That's why bsl language MUST be taken out of the Municipal Government Act altogether so that people like the Mayor of Yarmouth can't just willy-nilly propose things like province wide BSL.

I don't know if very many people know that any town in Nova Scotia can right now, at this very moment - enact BSL in their town because of the way that the Municipal Government Act is written - but they can, and that is very wrong.

In the MGA it says under the "Dog Bylaw" section - section 175 it says -
175 (1) Without limiting the generality of Section 172, a council may make by-laws
(e) defining fierce or dangerous dogs, including defining them by breed, cross-breed, partial breed or type;
(f) regulating the keeping of fierce or dangerous dogs;

When I first read that a couple years ago, I almost shit my pants. The fact that bsl is already written into the MGA is so bad it's unbelievable. We could conceivably have province wide bsl overnight - except for the fact that government is supposed to be run by the will of the people they govern - and if that were to happen - then every dog owner in Nova Scotia would be riled up to action by people like me, there'd be such a fuss.

People like me would make it their mission in life to stop bsl in Nova Scotia - so there'd be no way it would last in this place that we call paradise.

Anyway, I wrote a letter to the editor today because of what the Mayor of Yarmouth is proposing - and if it's something that moves you - I suggest you can either write your own MLA or write a letter to the Editor too - here's what I wrote -

"Yarmouth's dog bite mauling has called for it's town mayor to "encourage the Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities to prespare a resolution calling on the provincial government to consider creating a province wide regulation for "certain types of dogs". " This is what is better known as "breed specific legislation" and has been shown around the world to be the worst kind dog legislation you can enact if you want a safe community for people and dogs. It gives a false sense of security because people think they've gotten rid of the "bad dogs" when in reality they've only gotten rid of all dogs who have short hair, short muzzles and deep chests. Any dangerous dog is still allowed to roam the streets because they come in ALL breeds, ALL sizes, and ALL types of dog - why? Because they are CREATED, not born into a certain type of breed.

Please don't bring this kind of legislation to Nova Scotia - you will
be killing thousands of wonderful dogs who have done nothing wrong but
been born looking a certain way. There are a lot of dog owners in Nova Scotia who are willing to fight very hard not to have BSL in this province - so if it's a fight that the province is after - they're going to get it - from their tax paying dog owners."

Joan Sinden