Letters from local candidates in regards to Bill C-50
Well, I've been busy writing emails trying to figure out who to vote for. I WILL NOT be voting Liberal this election. Such a shame that they had to pick on poor little dogs.
I still haven't heard back from the Conservative, or the Liberal Candidate on the matter of Bill C-50, but I did hear back from the NDP Party.
And this is the letter that I received:
The federal NDP supported strengthening provisions of the Cruelty to Animals Section of the Criminal Code of Canada to discourage violence and cruelty against animals and to punish those responsible for such acts.
We are committed to policies that protect the natural environment and the creatures in it. New Democrats are aware that there is an alarming connection between animal abuse and other forms of serious violent offences against people. We would support a national human education initiative. We believe that it is necessary to have strong advocates in Parliament and in the community at large for these matters and we see public education as crucial to these advocacy efforts.
The NDP supported legislation throughout all stages since its introduction in April 2002. The amendments introduced to the Criminal Code would remove the offences dealing with animal cruelty from the property crimes section and create a separate section. This is a conceptual shift that we supported. Rather than treating crimes committed against animals as crimes committed against another's property, this bill would give animals their own status as creatures that can feel pain. We believe that such changes including increasing penalties for cruelty to animals are long overdue.
Please be assured that the NDP will continue to pressure the federal government to take action on initiatives to protect animals.
Here is a speech by the NDP's Pat Martin on November 14 2005, about animal cruelty.
Mr. Pat Martin Manitoba NDP:
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleagues for the spirit of generosity that we feel in the House of Commons today.
On behalf of the NDP caucus, I am happy to have an opportunity to share our views on Bill C-50 in the first session of this 38th Parliament. I should note that I believe I spoke to this bill during the 37th Parliament and I spoke to this bill in the 36th Parliament, if I remember correctly.
I note that it is called an act to amend the Criminal Code in respect of cruelty to animals. I would volunteer that it would be cruel to MPs if we had to debate this bill for very much longer. It seems like I have dedicated a good chunk of my career to this bill and beyond all reason I think, too.
If we were to canvas people around the country, there is a great deal of goodwill from well-meaning people around the country who would wish that we could adopt this bill and many of the provisions in it.
Without even speaking to the specifics of the bill, I think people are asking Parliament to recognize the status of animals that this bill actually contemplates. This bill, if nothing else or in its simplest form, would elevate animals from a simple material possession owned by someone to the status of an actual live being.
Anyone who has ever owned animals or even pets and looked into the eyes of their dog are ready to accept that this is not a possession, this is a being with a spirit, this is a being that has feelings, and this is a being that deserves to be treated in a humane way. I am speaking for a lot of animal lovers around the country when I say that we celebrate the idea of being able to recognize that cruelty to animals should be acknowledged as a crime and that penalties for cruelty to animals should be greater than they are currently today.
This idea, this shift, from viewing animals as simply property that can be treated however the owner of that property sees fit and viewing an animal as a sentient being, a being with, I will not go as far as to say a soul but with a spirit, a life force that we acknowledge and recognize. That is a quantum leap in law and in the way that we craft our legislation.
This issue has been a difficult one because we cannot deal with the subject of cruelty to animals without allowing emotions to creep into it. Many of us viewed television screens in the last week where yet another one of these puppy mills was revealed in a news magazine-type television broadcast. It was horrifying. It made Canadians angry.
It is fitting and appropriate that on the heels of that revelation we should be dealing with this issue in the House of Commons today. It makes me feel proud because if anything, the very thing that this bill seeks to enforce and to address is the thing that we witnessed in that television show where people were not being cruel to animals in the process of raising them or even slaughtering them for use and food, they were being cruel to those animals based on pure greed.
We believe in the New Democratic Party that there is a place in our legislative regime to enforce laws dealing with cruelty to animals in a much more disciplined way. I hope that the spirit of cooperation that exists in the House of Commons today can manifest itself in a new law that gets tough on those who would be cruel to animals.
So, it looks like I will be leaning toward the NDP party. No, it means that I will be voting for the NDP party. Here's hoping!!
I still haven't heard back from the Conservative, or the Liberal Candidate on the matter of Bill C-50, but I did hear back from the NDP Party.
And this is the letter that I received:
The federal NDP supported strengthening provisions of the Cruelty to Animals Section of the Criminal Code of Canada to discourage violence and cruelty against animals and to punish those responsible for such acts.
We are committed to policies that protect the natural environment and the creatures in it. New Democrats are aware that there is an alarming connection between animal abuse and other forms of serious violent offences against people. We would support a national human education initiative. We believe that it is necessary to have strong advocates in Parliament and in the community at large for these matters and we see public education as crucial to these advocacy efforts.
The NDP supported legislation throughout all stages since its introduction in April 2002. The amendments introduced to the Criminal Code would remove the offences dealing with animal cruelty from the property crimes section and create a separate section. This is a conceptual shift that we supported. Rather than treating crimes committed against animals as crimes committed against another's property, this bill would give animals their own status as creatures that can feel pain. We believe that such changes including increasing penalties for cruelty to animals are long overdue.
Please be assured that the NDP will continue to pressure the federal government to take action on initiatives to protect animals.
Here is a speech by the NDP's Pat Martin on November 14 2005, about animal cruelty.
Mr. Pat Martin Manitoba NDP:
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleagues for the spirit of generosity that we feel in the House of Commons today.
On behalf of the NDP caucus, I am happy to have an opportunity to share our views on Bill C-50 in the first session of this 38th Parliament. I should note that I believe I spoke to this bill during the 37th Parliament and I spoke to this bill in the 36th Parliament, if I remember correctly.
I note that it is called an act to amend the Criminal Code in respect of cruelty to animals. I would volunteer that it would be cruel to MPs if we had to debate this bill for very much longer. It seems like I have dedicated a good chunk of my career to this bill and beyond all reason I think, too.
If we were to canvas people around the country, there is a great deal of goodwill from well-meaning people around the country who would wish that we could adopt this bill and many of the provisions in it.
Without even speaking to the specifics of the bill, I think people are asking Parliament to recognize the status of animals that this bill actually contemplates. This bill, if nothing else or in its simplest form, would elevate animals from a simple material possession owned by someone to the status of an actual live being.
Anyone who has ever owned animals or even pets and looked into the eyes of their dog are ready to accept that this is not a possession, this is a being with a spirit, this is a being that has feelings, and this is a being that deserves to be treated in a humane way. I am speaking for a lot of animal lovers around the country when I say that we celebrate the idea of being able to recognize that cruelty to animals should be acknowledged as a crime and that penalties for cruelty to animals should be greater than they are currently today.
This idea, this shift, from viewing animals as simply property that can be treated however the owner of that property sees fit and viewing an animal as a sentient being, a being with, I will not go as far as to say a soul but with a spirit, a life force that we acknowledge and recognize. That is a quantum leap in law and in the way that we craft our legislation.
This issue has been a difficult one because we cannot deal with the subject of cruelty to animals without allowing emotions to creep into it. Many of us viewed television screens in the last week where yet another one of these puppy mills was revealed in a news magazine-type television broadcast. It was horrifying. It made Canadians angry.
It is fitting and appropriate that on the heels of that revelation we should be dealing with this issue in the House of Commons today. It makes me feel proud because if anything, the very thing that this bill seeks to enforce and to address is the thing that we witnessed in that television show where people were not being cruel to animals in the process of raising them or even slaughtering them for use and food, they were being cruel to those animals based on pure greed.
We believe in the New Democratic Party that there is a place in our legislative regime to enforce laws dealing with cruelty to animals in a much more disciplined way. I hope that the spirit of cooperation that exists in the House of Commons today can manifest itself in a new law that gets tough on those who would be cruel to animals.
So, it looks like I will be leaning toward the NDP party. No, it means that I will be voting for the NDP party. Here's hoping!!
posted by pitbulljungle at 11:42 AM
1 Comments:
I've been emailing all the parties as well Lindy, and from the responses, NDP has my vote and the vote of a lot of other people, not only for the dogs, but for what they stand for.
The Green Party cried because they didn't get a spot on the Publisized Debate, yet when I wrote, I received a reply, my canidate for my riding was taking a week off for fatherhood as he just had a baby.
While many fathers have babies, they don't take time off work, especially if you are trying to get votes for your party. I congratulated him on his new arrival, but he won't be getting my vote.
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