Why does this cat look happy?

This is my cat Whisky dreaming about all the places he can now shit outside now that the cat portion of bylaw A300's been struck down.

I was just talking to my HRM Councillor - and it turns out that the cat portion of Bylaw A300 was defeated yesterday in a closed door session of City Council. In a Chronicle Herald newspaper article - it didn't mention that - but in a CBC online article - it did, sort of - so today I contacted my Councillor and had it confirmed - the cat portion of the bylaw is gone.

One note - all the other parts of A300 ARE set to go into effect on April 1st however, so all the shitty parts of A300 still need to be dealt with.

Here's the CBC article:

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/story/2008/02/27/cat-bylaw.html

Cats may get the last meow as the Halifax Regional council moved
Tuesday night to scratch new rules that would require their owners to
license them.

Councillors decided on Tuesday to delete all references to cats in a
new animal control bylaw that was to take effect in April.

The requirement for cat licences and provisions to deal with nuisance
felines were added to the bylaw in October after years of debate on
the issue.

And council reversed that decision Tuesday night behind closed doors
at an in-camera session held to discuss a proposed contract for new
animal shelters to house cats running afoul of the bylaw.

When councillors emerged from the private meeting, they had decided to
stay with the existing animal shelter and remove the cat provisions
from the bylaw.

After the decision, Mayor Peter Kelly would only say that cost had
been a factor in the decision.

Cats may get the last meow as the Halifax Regional council moved
Tuesday night to scratch new rules that would require their owners to
license them.

Councillors decided on Tuesday to delete all references to cats in a
new animal control bylaw that was to take effect in April.

The requirement for cat licences and provisions to deal with nuisance
felines were added to the bylaw in October after years of debate on
the issue.

And council reversed that decision Tuesday night behind closed doors
at an in-camera session held to discuss a proposed contract for new
animal shelters to house cats running afoul of the bylaw.

When councillors emerged from the private meeting, they had decided to
stay with the existing animal shelter and remove the cat provisions
from the bylaw.

After the decision, Mayor Peter Kelly would only say that cost had
been a factor in the decision.

"In that contract, we discussed dollars and, you know, the challenges
with dollars in terms of a budgetary allocation," Kelly said.

The cost of implementing the bylaw, including setting up a new
shelter, was estimated at $3.3 million.

The vote was 8-6 to scrap the bylaw, and Coun. David Hendsbee was left fuming.

He immediately asked council to reconsider the decision at next week's
meeting and suggested councillors might need help from the public to
sort it out.

"Perhaps it's time for this council to suspend further debate on this
issue and go to the people on a plebiscite. Let the public decide.
Should we have pet registration, yes or no? Should that include cats,
yes or no?" Hendsbee said.

Meanwhile, council will have to hold another public meeting before it
can change the animal control bylaw again. No date has been set.