Quebec looking at tighter pit-bull regulations after recent incidents

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This article was published 15/06/2016 (3577 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

QUEBEC – Quebec is contemplating tighter regulations for pit bulls, including a provincewide ban on them.

The government is examining “very closely” the possibility of embracing the model in Ontario, where pit bulls are prohibited, Agriculture Minister Pierre Paradis said Wednesday.

Paradis said there’s a “sense of urgency” to act, even though he acknowledged the difficulties involved in getting municipalities to enforce such a ban.

One of his cabinet colleagues, Health Minister Gaetan Barrette, favours a blanket ban.

Barrette’s riding of Lapiniere includes the City of Brossard, which this week said it would not allow any new pit bulls on its territory and would introduce stringent conditions for current owners.

Brossard’s move follows a vicious attack by a pit bull on an eight-year-old girl in a park last September that left her with various injuries, including a fractured skull, a broken hand and severely ripped muscles in her face.

“That child has significant permanent damage, not only esthetically, but that child has nerve damage to her face that will last forever and that’s a dog that does that, and at some point there has to be some answer to that,” Barrette said.

There have also been recent cases.

A 55-year-old Montreal woman was found dead last week after being attacked by a pit bull, while a woman was bitten on the thighs by another one Tuesday in Sainte-Adele, north of Montreal.

She was visiting an acquaintance and the dog was tied up when it lunged at her. The woman was taken to hospital and eventually released.

The government has already set up a working group to look at the issue but Public Security Minister Martin Coiteux insists the province will go further.

“We are going to give very, very, very clear guidelines” to deal with pit bulls and other aggressive dogs, he said.