Dale Duncan at City Hall: July 12, 2007

It’s raining dogs and dogs

There are so many dogs in Toronto that if they wanted to start their own canine revolution, they probably could. Numbering nearly 250,000, there are roughly eight times more dogs in T.O. than there are people in my hometown of Orillia. And trends in dog ownership show no sign of slowing down. But whether they are a best friend or a cherished accessory, they all need a place to run free, and it’s not as though the city is knocking over buildings to create more green space.

Back in 2004, the city, in its “Our Common Grounds” report, recommended creating a People, Dogs and Parks strategy. Unfortunately, figuring out how and where to designate official off-leash areas isn’t the only challenge. There’s also the issue of ensuring that owners not only pick up their dog’s poop, but also properly dispose of it — a recent audit of trash bins in city parks found that up to 27 per cent of the waste in park garbage cans is pretty much bagged E. coli. Technically, this is organic waste, yet only four parks currently provide green bins as a part of a pilot project. Residents are encouraged to carry their dog’s waste home to either dispose of in their own green bins or flush down the toilet, an idea that many have laughed off as unrealistic.

Another challenge to pulling together a new strategy is just how far behind Toronto has fallen in dealing with finding solutions to the shared use of our parks. Take Calgary, which has operated a well-oiled dogs and parks strategy for over 20 years. Though Cowtown is home to only around 101,000 canines, it has, in total, 141 parks with designated off-leash areas. Toronto currently has a mere 32. To ensure that dog owners keep their pups under control and follow the strict poop-and-scoop laws, Calgary employs over 50 bylaw officers with “special constable status.” Toronto, on the other hand, has 11 bylaw officers on the job, though plans are in the works to add 10 more.

City staff have estimated that Toronto’s newly proposed People, Dogs and Parks strategy will cost over $1 million a year to operate. And so, like every other strategy that the city devises these days, the question is: how are we going to pay for it? Calgary covers the cost of enforcing its dog-related regulations with the revenues that it receives from the 93 per cent of dog owners that purchase licences each year. At $31 a pop, the licences and dog-related fines generate $4 million annually. In Toronto, meanwhile, only 15 per cent of dog owners bother to purchase a licence. A big concern among many who have attended public consultation meetings on the subject is whether Toronto’s new strategy will have any teeth. As far as enforcement goes, it’s not looking good: split the recommended 21 officers among the city’s 1,470 parks, and each would be in charge of a whopping 70 parks each.

photo by Rannie Turingan

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Dale Duncan writes the City hall column for Eye Weekly. Spacing posts her columns each Thursday.