Once again! Bill C10(b) PASSED in the House of Commons at 4:45 p.m.
True to their word, ALL present Liberals voted to send the bill BACK to the Senate UN-AMENDED—Just as we, the Canadian people, asked them to do.
Many tens, of thousands of us have written letters, not only to Chretien, but to Boudria, Anne McLellan and to our Members of Parliament begging, demanding, reasoning, that they NOT bow to the pressure from industry and special interest groups to be exempted and/or create loopholes so they had the legal right to be cruel to animals where other Canadians would be held liable.
So now, it is our time to thank them.
It would be really wonderful if they got a great outpouring of thanks for putting the animals before industry pressure—That is no small feat in this day and age!
Here are some of the people you might consider thanking (I know that *I* am going to take the time to phone and leave a message—a “thank you “ message—to these people!
I watched Macklin’s speech on Friday (it is posted on the site) and it was great!
We want those in power to realize that we recognize when they stand up for animals—that we don’t just gripe when things DON’T happen the way they should. They stood their ground!
What the Senate does from here is out of their hands. The only person who can intervene now, is Jean Chretien and, while he also deserves our thanks, as well, we should also request that he step in and stop the Senate from holding up this bill any longer—nicely.
For those of you who feel inclined to drop these people a thank you note or phone call here is their contact info:
Don Boudria (Minister of Justice)
Telephone(613) 996-2907 Fax(613) 996-9123
Email Boudria.D@parl.gc.ca
Anne McLellan (is was she who introduced the bill in the first place )
Telephone:(613) 992 -4524 Fax(613) 943-0044
Email McLellan.A@parl.gc.ca
Prime Minister Chrétien
Phone: 613-992-4211 Fax: 613-941-6900
E-mail: pm@pm.gc.ca
For those of you who want to make your voice heard to your local MP: This is the link to the Members of the 37th Parliament by Province.
This is the link by party affiliation:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/common/senmemb/house/members/PartyList.asp?Language=E&Parl=37&Ses=1&Sect=hoccur
If you have trouble with it because it is so long, these are posted on the web site in a single button at
http://www.anticruelty.ca/current2.html in a single button (the web page has not been updated yet, but soon!)
Follow the link to your area and you will be able to tell if your member of parliament voted for the bill or not by what party they belonged to. Assuming they were present for the vote, if they are Liberal or NDP they voted to preserve the bill. If they were BLOC, Alliance or Conservative, they voted against it.
I’m sure they won’t ‘shelve’ these emails—they get so few “thanks” We harassed them and harassed them and they promised us they would deliver and they did.
So what now?
Now, Bill C10(b) goes BACK to the Senate INTACT and they can either send it to ANOTHER committee to be looked at OR they can do the right thing by the Canadian animals and people and sign off on it so it can receive Royal Assent and we can get on with the business of protecting animals and prosecuting their abusers—something we *should* have been able to do two years ago.
This could happen right away, it could take a while. But, at least it has moved from the House of Commons BEFORE this Parliament breaks!
Thank you ALL for all your vigilant letter writing, telephoning and so on. There are many, many animals whose lives will be greatly affected by this legislation in the future—and that is ALL it is about!
Cheers,
A.Gibson
Toronto Coalition For AntiCruelty Legislation
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. In fact, it's the only thing that ever has. Margaret Mead