Why We Should Never Save Our Breath to Cool Our Porridge

Remember that wonderful presentation that Sean Kelly made on behalf of the society to the Law Amendment Committee? Today I had my first glance at a copy of the new Animal Cruelty Bill, http://www.gov.ns.ca/legislature/legc/PDFs/annual%20statutes/2008%20Fall/c033.pdf .
As far as I can tell, most of the proposals they put forth didn't make the final cut for the bill, although there is some very ambiguous language there with respect to the ability to inspect research animals at Dal. In section 3.3, it states
(3) This Act does not apply to mandatory testing procedures undertaken by a
research laboratory that are required by Health Canada or the World Health Organization or an organization prescribed in the regulations.
and yet later in the act, in section 28 (2)
(2) Where an inspector is of the opinion that an offence pursuant to this Act is being committed with regard to research animals, the inspector shall
(a) consult or be accompanied by the chair of the animal-care committee associated with that research; or
(b) consult with standards setting agencies prescribed by the regulations or, where the facility in which the research animals are kept is part of the Canadian Council on Animal Care audit program, the Canadian Council on Animal Care, before taking any further action
On the first reading, I see no mention of any of the points in the SPCA proposal, and can only hope that the provision in Section 40,

40 (1) The Governor in Council may make regulations
(a) prescribing, with respect to animals kept for sale, hire, exhibition, research, or that are impounded, boarded or kept for breeding
(i) standards of design, construction and maintenance of facilities in which the animals are kept,
(ii) the standard of care with which the animals are to be maintained;
(b) defining what are reasonable steps to find and notify an owner;
(c) determining reasonable expenses to be charged to the owner of an animal taken into custody pursuant to this Act for transportation of the animal, food, care, shelter and veterinary medical treatment provided to the animal and for the enthanasia of an animal;
(d) prescribing acceptable methods of euthanasia;
(e) prescribing societies, organizations, institutions or persons to which this Act applies for the purpose of enforcing this Act and determining the extent to which this Act applies to the society, organization, institution or person;
(f) exempting research activities from the requirements of subsection 23(1) if the research activities are being conducted pursuant to an audit program approved by the Canadian Council on Animal Care or an organization prescribed in the regulations;
(g) prescribing activities for the purpose of subsection 21(4) or 28(1);
(h) prescribing procedures and time periods for appeals to the Board;
(i) prescribing identification devices or methods for the purposes of subsection 26(1);
(j) prescribing further powers and duties of the Chief Inspector, the Provincial Inspector or inspectors;
(k) prescribing minimum qualifications for persons appointed as the Chief Inspector, the Provincial Inspector or inspectors;
(l) prescribing procedures respecting appeals to the Board;
(m) defining or prescribing unacceptable animal practices, modifications or mutilations;
(n) prescribing activities that are deemed to cause animals to be in distress;
(o) prescribing or adopting acceptable codes of practice respecting animals;
(p) respecting the licensing of animal care facilities and standards for such facilities;
(q)
prescribing fees or ranges of fees for appeals;
(r) prescribing fees for the purpose of this Act;
(s) defining any word or expression used but not defined in this Act;
(t) further defining any word or expression defined in this Act;
In other words..... the door is still open for the Act to morph into a document that sets NS either backwards or forwards.
And if that is the case, we very definitely need the society to keep on speaking up by submitting timely proposals and doing follow up on the outcome.
History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people. Martin Luther King Jr.