Edmonton, Alberta - 12 May 2014
Thank you all for joining us.
I first of all want to thank Chief Knecht, Constable Williamson.
This is Ozzie.
Good, Ozzie.
And all the members of the Edmonton K9 unit for hosting us here today.
We’re here to make an announcement.
We indicated in the Speech from the Throne last year that we would be bringing forward what we’re calling Quanto’s Law to deal with the protection of service animals in the performance of their duties.
Today in Parliament we’re tabling Quanto’s Law, which will be a law to better protect our service animals and to better punish those who do them harm.
The reason for this, you should all understand, these service animals are not pets.
They are important investments that police services and others make in animals that perform very specialized duties.
Tens of thousands of dollars of training go into animals like this.
And when they are attacked, as of course the late Quanto was, not only is that loss of a considerable asset for a police service, it also is of course a wider attack on the police services that protect us.
And so we think it’s essential that those who do these animals harm be appropriately punished, and that’s why we’re proceeding.
And this will be named in honour of Constable Williamson’s previous dog, Quanto, who as you know here was the victim of a stabbing in the performance of his duties.
And Ozzie now takes up his mantle.
Thank you all for being here.
