Earlier today, the Plante administration unveiled their new city animal control bylaws that will see dangerous dogs euthanized.
This is a big shift from the Montreal, or even Quebec-wide pit bull ban that Plante had promised to remove during her campaign last year. She kept her promise.
The new Montreal animal control bylaws will also spell out the end of Montreal's calèches industry, which was another campaign promise from the Plante administration.
READ ALSO: Montreal's New Animal Control Bylaws Will See Dangerous Dogs Euthanized
The calèche industry in Montreal is a controversial subject. This industry is believed to be very cruel to horses and can cause safety issues to the animals, public and surrounding traffic alike.
Hundreds of city complaints have been issued, and four accidents involving the horse-drawn carriages have happened since 2014.
Via anti-calechedefensecoalition
The city says that in 2016, and 2017 alone there were 14 infractions recorded in relation to the health of the horses and/or the state of the calèches.
Under the new proposed city bylaws, this controversial calèche horse industry will come to an end and be banned as of December 31, 2019.
I, for one, am happy to see this go away. Sure, it's a nice novelty to take a horse-drawn ride through the Old Port. It's romantic. It feels very "Montreal". But at the end of the day, it makes me much happier to think of these horses not being forced to trot through vehicular traffic.
That seems like a pretty long ways away, I know. Between now and then, the city will hand out 24 permits to phase out the industry slowly and allow calèche drivers to seek other jobs in Montreal.
The new city bylaws are expected to pass by this summer, in 2018.