The Honourable Irwin Cotler

The Honourable Irwin Cotler
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
284 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0H8
webadmin@justice.gc.ca

I have e-mailed his office about how our Ontario Attorney General has decided all pit bull type dog owner's are presumed guilty under his proposed legislation, with no legal mean's of being found innocent, based soley on the apperance of there dog's. And the fact this is a clear violation of the charter of right's. I recived a reply the next day asking for my address, as they could not respond by e-mail.
I take this as a hint of a good sign, since the provincal Liberals are basicly ignoring us.
I might be a good idea for all who feel the urge, to write Mr. Colter and express there disgust in the way Micheal Bryant has handled this whole affair.
And then we can see if we all get the same form letters like the pro'v Liberals were sending out.
I would really love to see the fed's outlaw breed bans, forceing local governments to deal with the root of dog agression,(people) and not the end result(dogs).
I would think Michael Bryant has sent all his fibs and half truths to Mr.Colter, If he recive's enough fact's he might start to wonder what Bryant is really up too.

As a side note and in fairness to our tax dollars, each MP or MPP is only likely to send one letter out on a particular subject. Perhaps you are meaning that ALL MPPs sent out the exact same letter--not one MPP sending everyone who wrote his/her office the same letter from his/her office.

I personally don't want the MPs or MPPs writing 1000s of different responses on one subject, however each office should have its own. One form letter per office for big letter writing campaigns is the best we can get for our money. This doesn't mean letters should stop, then generally keep a record of numbers for or against a particular topic--and pull the ones with particularly interesting points.

As far as Cotler is concerned, be patient with that office as he is likely getting slammed with same sex marriage letters right now ;)

I sent an email to Cotler and Paul Martin a few months ago.
Martin's office sent a reply basically saying " This isn't in my juristiction. Sorry, I can't help."

Cotler's office didn't respond at all. So, it is a good sign that you got a response. At the very least, they read your email.

You're right Loki. It is not within the MPs jurisdiction--and as Prime Minister Paul Martin cannot take a lead on BSL.

MPs in fact can't do anything---it's not only not their job, they are not compelled by Parliament to step on the toes of their neighbouring MPPs. It's more than an unwritten code--it's a written code as far as I know.

Nevertheless---its the MPPs you want on your side. They will be the ones legislating...the more information they have, the easier it will be for them to make an informed decision. The fact of the matter is that many of the MPPs will be looking for educated and intelligent information on this issue--it's not common knowledge and it's often far off their radar of importance.

My suggestion would be to draft just that--intelliegent and educated letters--the more they fit that mold the more likely it is that the legislative assistants will pass the letters on to the MPPs themselves!

I did just that sat and composed a fact based letter and sent it off. Hopefully these will generate some positive actions on the part of the gov't

The only response you will get, if any, from an MP is "not our jurisdiction". The feds have no authority whatsoever in the matter. ZERO. Most Liberal MPP's probably have little interest in this issue.

Your only course of action to defeat the legislation is coalition building and presenting a united force of stakeholders. And vote Tory to throw the Lieberals out next go 'round in order to get it repealed or re-written.

My personal opinion is that this legislation will get watered down. It is a typical Liberal tactic to introduce this kind of distractive minor legislation (ya, I'm crazy about my dog. For dog people it's a big deal, for libertarians its a medium deal, in the whole government scheme of things it's small and a big waste of time and money)...minor legislation, crowd up the news reports so we pay less attention to the fact they started charging health premiums AND eliminated a slew of health services from OHIP AND are about to fire a few thousand nurses.

PS I don't vote liberal :D

The bill may get watered down in some form, but the Pit bull ban portion will remain.

Another thing, the federal Lie-berals will not take a stance against the Ontario party, because they are fundamentally the same party.

The federal parties won't take a stance because it not within their jurisdiction. They simply cannot take a stance. They as human beings can have an opinion like you and I, but they cannot take a side regardless of the parties they belong to.

Personally I will never vote for a liberal government at any level ever again. They have proven themselves to be the biggest liars of all the parties and have backpeddled on every issue especially health care. My biggest problem is still Michael the A$$hole Bryant

The federal parties won't take a stance because it not within their jurisdiction. They simply cannot take a stance. They as human beings can have an opinion like you and I, but they cannot take a side regardless of the parties they belong to.

Since they are fundamentally the same party, not only has mb lost my family's vote for the provincial liberals, he has also lost our votes for the federal liberals.

It's true that the Federal Liberals and the provincial have nothing to do with each other in the grand scheme of things, and most of us will receive a "not our jurisdiction" answer. However, in the run-up to the federal election, rumour has it that Martin had a chat with McGinty about his actions causing people to turn against the federal party because they were both liberal. It can't hurt to send anything to the federal party, but it may cause them to think that it is causing both parties bad press, and it will be just a little more pressure from another source.

And db7, you're absolutely right, in the grand scheme of things this is a minor issue to the government. Our only hope is to make it more of an issue than they realize, or at least make it part of the grander issues.

Well at least we can all agree on one thing--don't vote Liberal!!!!

When I emailed Cotler and Martin, I didn't expect them to do anything.
I think it doesn't hurt to plant the seed that McGuinty and Bryant are going to cost Martin and company votes in Ontario. It probably won't help/ hurt our cause, but it may cause resentment towards Bryant. I think Bryant has his sights set on bigger things than being AG of Ontario.

When Martin eventually calls an election and the Liberal MP candidate phones, my response will be:
" If it lies like a Liberal, steals like a Liberal, and kills dogs like a Liberal: It's a Liberal, and Liberals are BANNED in Ontario."

I agree that the main focus should be on MPPs. Pressuring Mayors( about the cost) is probably a good idea also.

Please add to that "If it smells to high heaven like a liberal . . "

Please add to that "If it smells to high heaven like a liberal . . "

Either that, or the sewer's backed up again...

Actually I want a Liberal sign in the next election. :sorry:

I can use it to teach the dogs to pee in just one spot on the lawn. It will make an interesting video too when 99% of the dogs at the dog park pee on the Liberal sign but leave the other signs alone.
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Actually I want a Liberal sign in the next election. :sorry:

I can use it to teach the dogs to pee in just one spot on the lawn. It will make an interesting video too when 99% of the dogs at the dog park pee on the Liberal sign but leave the other signs alone.
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I'd knock it over and teach them to do something else on it !!!!
How big can the "compost" pile get before the election ?