If it wasn’t for Canwest global news media, I would never know what was going on in Saskatchewan – and thankfully so. So I curse the media when I see Saskatchewan-related news items pop up on the website for my local newspaper. Like a car crash, I can’t help but look. Such was the case today when I came across a story chronicling the latest chapter in the long sad story that is Saskatoon’s pet laws.Some context:
In case you don’t know, Saskatchewan loves tax as much as anchorman Ron Burgundy loves scotch.
I love scotch. Scotchy, scotch, scotch. Here it goes down, down into my belly...
An example of this is the fact that Saskatoon is one of the few jurisdictions where one is taxed every year for having a cat or dog. You have to buy a licence for your pet and put a tag on it – or face big fines. Although the bylaw is almost never enforced (ask any cat owner if they buy a licence for Mr. Socks. Half will say no and the other half will stare at you blankly not knowing what you’re even talking about). The licensing really serves no purpose other than to grab tax money but more importantly, try to scare residents into containing their pets. If memory serves me correctly, fines are issued any time your dog or cat walks off your property and onto another’s. The only difference is that a licensed pet receives a smaller fine. Pets are apparently supposed to observe and abide by surveyor’s pins in Sask.
Some more context:
I have written elsewhere on this blog about Saskatoon’s dog feces problem. Even though it a finable offence, dog owners in SK apparently think that it is within their rights to let their dogs shit all over anything and everything. I used to know when spring had arrived in Saskatoon by the massive piles of dog shit that thawed out and lay exposed all over public parks and my yard. Believe me when I say it is better to step in frozen than fresh dog shit.
Here the [poop] scoop:
I got a chuckle out of the latest buffoonery from city hall. Apparently they have been debating whether to pass a bylaw outlawing dog urination on private property.
Some more context:
I have written elsewhere on this blog about Saskatoon’s dog feces problem. Even though it a finable offence, dog owners in SK apparently think that it is within their rights to let their dogs shit all over anything and everything. I used to know when spring had arrived in Saskatoon by the massive piles of dog shit that thawed out and lay exposed all over public parks and my yard. Believe me when I say it is better to step in frozen than fresh dog shit.
Here the [poop] scoop:
I got a chuckle out of the latest buffoonery from city hall. Apparently they have been debating whether to pass a bylaw outlawing dog urination on private property.
City council ultimately decided not to pass such a law. But not because dog piss isn’t damaging to property or that it's a problem in the city, but because enforcement of the law would be too difficult. LOL. How rich. This is the same city hall that enacted the pet licence law and the dog feces law, neither of which are enforceable or enforced. *face palm here*
I don’t know what’s more amazing: the inconsistency in which the city laws are made or the fact that Saskatoon passed on the opportunity to find a new way to collect tax from citizens. What a shit--I mean piss show.
