Caveat

DOES THIS CHART SHOW THE BAN IS WORKING?

Yesterday on CBC, they did an item on the new tri-party Bill 16 to repeal Ontario's ridiculous, old-fashioned 'pit bull' ban.  

There's a valid online petition going, if you wish to sign it.  You must be an Ontario resident for it to count, there is no age restriction on signing petitions. While it cannot be presented as a petition, it does show support for the Bill.

This is at Randy Hillier MPP's website, he is one of the co-signers of the Bill.

http://www.randyhilliermpp.com/ontariocanleadagain/index.php?option=com_petitions&view=petition&id=25&Itemid=33

Wow, Randy is kicking ass with his petition, signatures seem to be pouring in!  Warms the cockles of me cold, cold heart. 

Anyway, the CBC report was typically cheesy, with a visit by a very nervous young man to a nice middle-aged lady who seemed to own a DOLA dog that was wearing a scary-looking muzzle.

During the brawdcaaaast, the new Attorney General displayed a chart purporting to prove that the 'pit bull' ban is working to protect people from dog bites.  I was able to grab the numbers.

The government used the same numbers that Toronto Animal Services uses under the generic 'pit bull' category, which  makes sense because nobody else collects bite by 'breed' ha ha.  Global TV used Toronto Animal Services numbers (not Public Health numbers as they state on their site) but more cleverly added the three breeds and the mutts together to get a higher total.  Not much higher though.  These guys should coordinate better.

The same criticisms I wrote about in my comparison of Global TV and the Toronto Star's research efforts apply to the MAG's use of the same numbers, so no need to rehash the corned beef.

While we all realize this law was written for Toronto, it unfortunately affects everybody in Ontario, so maybe it's time to branch out and share some more numbers.  C'mon guys, you show me yours and I'll show you mine.  (I know, I'm being a smartass, but I get like that when these folk make me work so hard and stay up so late for weeks on end.)

But as we all know, the number one reason the ban isn't working and couldn't possibly work is that....all together now....

THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A 'PIT BULL'!

Anyway, I thought I'd just call bullshit on the whole bunch of them at once by putting out my own little line graph because a picture is always better.

Enjoy!  Discuss!

Typepad doesn't give me the same power I had at blogware for formatting etc. I realize this is small, so here's the legend.

Red - Toronto Public Health Dog Bites (I only asked for 2004 onward, must get 2001-03)

Blue - City of Toronto All Dog Bites

Green - Toronto Animal Services Total Dog Bites

Bright Green - Global TV 'Pit Bull' Bites

Invisible - Ministry of the Attorney General (MAG) 'Pit Bull' Bites

Bright Pink - TAS 'Pit Bull' Bites (same as MAG)

 

Larger image available here:

Download DogBitesTO

 

 

REMINDER ABOUT ONTARIO PETITIONS

With the good news out of the UK, I want to remind everybody that our petition still needs to be passed around.  

Restrictions on dogs because of their appearance are falling all over the world;  only Ontario and a few other backward places such as Denver are hanging on to their legislation like bulldogs.

On the left is a link to the petition in PDF format.  If you can, print a copy, get some signatures (doesn't need a full page) and either send them to your own MPP asking them to present them in the House for you, or, if they refuse, forward them to:

Julia Munro, MPP

Room 204

North Wing Legislative Building

Queen's Park

Toronto, ON M7A 1A8 

 

NOTE:  Postage is required for provincial Members of Parliament, only correspondence with federal Members is postage-free.

 

You can find your Ontario MPP here.

 

Text of link:

http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/go2.jsp?Page=/members/members_main&menuItem=mpps_header&locale=en