May 15, 2006
Humane Society dogfight rages
By PETER WORTHINGTON
Toronto Sun

What's going on in the mysterious world of animal welfare -- especially with the Ontario Humane Society (re-named the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA) and the Toronto Humane Society?

In March, eight board members wrote Premier Dalton McGuinty and Monte Kwinter (minister of community safety responsible for humane societies), that they were resigning from the OSPCA because "outdated legislation and dysfunctional governance" forced the organization to "irresponsibly and immorally squander donor and taxpayer dollars in an unsustainable and wasteful fashion." Neither McGuinty nor Kwinter has responded.

OSPCA board chairman Mike Chaddock announced he was "a little dismayed" at the resignations "but we are moving forward" and that the annual meeting would be held in Newmarket on June 10. Then he submitted his own resignation.

Since then, the 36-member OSPCA board has shrunk to seven members (other resignations have occurred), leaving the matter of a quorum in question. Apparently on the advice of their lawyer, it was decided unilaterally that two-thirds of however many board members attended a meeting would constitute a quorum.

It was business as usual -- illegal, perhaps, but the McGuinty government, which recently okayed a $1.8 million grant to the OSPCA, didn't want to know. Still doesn't.

So there's big trouble within the OSPCA if anyone looks closely. Many board members are upset that public donations and grants from the government are spent on buildings and facilities rather than on animals and curbing cruelty and abuse.

Inspectors who investigate and lay charges of animal abuse in Ontario come under the domain of the OSPCA.

This gives that body enormous power. Many in the animal welfare movement wish the government, and not a charitable organization, had the responsibility of investigating and policing. Prior to the gutting of its board, OSPCA management had taken aim on the affluent and aggressive Toronto Humane Society (THS) which theoretically is confined to central Toronto, but supported beyond Toronto's inner borders.