Can I have a chicken in my backyard?

Fresh eggs, what kind of image does that evoke? Farmers' wives with their baskets feeling under brooding hens to take the eggs. The noise and smell of the fowl. Take your pick but what are the rules? Raising chickens is about as "back to the country" as you can get. But is it legal in Cobourg? After spending time with helpful people, in Town Hall, such as Susan Beer and Steve Ashton the legal status of a back yard chicken is still not definite. If your chicken does tricks then it is banned under 59-2004 - a bylaw to prohibit wild or exotic animal exhibitions. But if all the chicken does is produce eggs for the kitchen table it may be legal. Residential zoning bans agricultural uses and the Zoning Bylaw (ZB) allows "general farming". "General farming", the only agricultural reference in the ZBL , is not allowed in residential areas. The legal argument is - "What is general farming" (GF)? How many chickens do you have to have to fall into GF? Can you build a coop that is legal? The answer to that one is easy; keep it under 100 square feet and you don't need a permit. But the general consensus is that if you get on with your neighbours and don't keep too many chickens and house them in a coop less than 100 sf you will probably be allowed to do it. But don't boast about it and don't have a rooster!

If there ever is a "black hole" for policing costs it comes under the heading "Communications". Over the years the amount of money devoted to this subject, Cobourg and Port Hope, has been LARGE. Now a consultant is recommending that PH spend even more. How much will Cobourg spend? Why is it that parochial pols still abound where Policing costs occur? The latest report of the Port Hope Police Services Board exposes some of this thinking. Pull the prisoners out of the Cobourg police station and put them at the OPP station, just to save cents - what shortsighted thinking. How's this for an idea - amalgamate and share the costs!

A linkage between the GM fiasco and Wall St and guess who gets to keep their money? This story links Obama and his car czar to a scheme whereby GM's pensioners will lose their fund to 2 Wall St banks who, in the end, will never share the pain of everybody else in the bankruptcy. In addition the proposal is illegal but being done in the name of Obama and his Wall St buds.

Words of wisdom from our MP. Mr Norlock musing about the prospect of an early election

(snip) Norlock, who was re elected last fall, says canadians clearly don't want another costly election so soon.
He says an early election call would amount to crass political opportunism to try to take advantage of economic hardship in order to win public favour. (snip)

So the question to RN is this - "What about the crass political ministerial responsibility crap that SH , is putting out to sack a Quebec male "swordsman" and to keep his "pet" over identical mistakes. Read Don Martin's comments about the incident here.