Article content continued

But Anie Samson, vice-president of the Montreal’s executive committee in charge of public safety, said the administration of Mayor Denis Coderre will go ahead with the pit bull ban.

“We have heard the lobbying by the SPCA, we know where they stand, but our role is to take a decision to protect the public and we intend to do that,” Samson said on Wednesday.

She said difficulties in enforcing a bylaw is not a reason to shy away from legislating.

“If we start saying it is impossible to completely enforce laws, we will never do anything. We can’t check every car and make sure everyone has a seatbelt on, but we have that law. We have to make rules that rely on the good faith of people,” Samson said.

Asked whether she was concerned that vagueness in the new bylaw and the difficulty of enforcing it will leave the city open to lawsuits by dog owners whose dogs are seized, Samson said, “Let them bring us to court. We will test it. We have had our legal team work on it. We brought this bylaw forward because a woman died. She should not have.”