http:\/\/www.thestar.com\/news\/canada\/politics\/article\/1138827–walkom-why-ontario-s-pit-bull-ban-should-end<\/a><\/p>\nWalkom: Why Ontario\u2019s pit-bull ban should end<\/p>\n
Published On Wed Feb 29 2012
\nBy Thomas Walkom
\nToronto Star National Affairs Columnist<\/p>\n
Thanks to the efforts of MPPs from all three parties, Ontarians are being given a chance \u2014 a chance \u2014 to see a patently bad law buried.<\/p>\n
That law is the province-wide ban on pit bulls, a statute enacted seven years ago on the basis of much demagoguery and virtually no evidence.<\/p>\n
The ban\u2019s origins were fear and opportunism. The fear \u2014 particularly in Toronto \u2014 stemmed from a particularly vicious pit-bull attack that left a 25-year-old man with extensive injuries.<\/p>\n
The opportunism was that of Premier Dalton McGuinty\u2019s Liberal government, which sensed in the public outrage surrounding this attack a chance to polish its fading image.<\/p>\n
At the time, debate over the ban was hot and furious. Honest people took different sides.<\/p>\n
Many parents welcomed any move that might keep young children safe.<\/p>\n
Conversely, many dog lovers were outraged by the ban\u2019s arbitrary nature.<\/p>\n
But what made the government\u2019s handling of this bill unforgivable was its dishonesty.<\/p>\n
It cited as evidence for its move a U.S. study claiming that pit bulls, while representing only 1 per cent of the dog population, were responsible for between 48 and 56 per cent of all dog bites.<\/p>\n
Under scrutiny, however, that claim collapsed. The statistics, a government spokesman acknowledged, came from an obscure Washington state pet owners\u2019 magazine that had looked at just 59 cases.<\/p>\n
Otherwise, the government had nothing. Serious organizations that had investigated dog bites \u2014 including the Canada Safety Council, the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association and the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control \u2014 concluded that so called breed bans didn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n
The reason? No one dog breed is particularly vicious. What counts, expert after expert told the government, is how dogs are trained.<\/p>\n
Moreover, the government was told, the dog-bite threat itself is overstated. One study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that far more children are injured playing baseball.<\/p>\n
Riding on a wave of fear, however, the government persevered. It eventually passed a law requiring dogs from four named breeds born after Nov. 26, 2005 \u2014 as well as any dog that even resembles a pit bull born after this date \u2014 to be either killed or (when municipal bylaws permit) removed from the province.<\/p>\n
Pit bulls born before that date cannot be allowed out of enclosed areas without leash and muzzle.<\/p>\n
Except for one maverick Tory who sided with the government, the vote was held along strict party lines.<\/p>\n
Which is what makes last week\u2019s private member\u2019s bill so encouraging. Co-sponsored by leftish New Democrat Cheri DeNovo, avowedly right-of-centre Tory Randy Hillier and Niagara Falls Liberal Kim Craitor, the bill to repeal Ontario\u2019s pit-bull ban passed its second reading stage with support from all three parties.<\/p>\n
Those who want to end the ban made the usual points. The law is vague in determining what constitutes a pit bull. More to the point it is unfair, in that it penalizes breed rather than behaviour.<\/p>\n
Pointing to a 2010 study by the Toronto Humane Society, Hillier argued that the ban hasn\u2019t affected the number of dog-bite incidents in Ontario \u2014 which is to say, it hasn\u2019t worked.<\/p>\n
In normal times, private members\u2019 bills rarely manage to reach the third reading stage required to make them law. According to published reports, even this bill commanded the support of only three Liberals, including Toronto MPP Mike Colle.<\/p>\n
Still, we can hope. The ban is particularly unpopular in rural areas, where the Liberals need seats if they are to regain a majority. Perhaps the government that chose to pass this travesty seven years ago will see reason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Thomas Walkom was outspoken against the Ontario ban in 2004 and 2005 and was one of the voices of reason in the media at the time. It’s nice to see he’s still speaking out. Thanks, Thomas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,13,3,8,12,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-legislation","category-media","category-ontario","category-pit-bulls","category-politics","category-solutions-good"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chicobandido.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chicobandido.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chicobandido.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chicobandido.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chicobandido.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=391"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.chicobandido.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":392,"href":"https:\/\/www.chicobandido.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391\/revisions\/392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chicobandido.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chicobandido.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chicobandido.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}