It seems that in Oak Bay, the Right to Bear Arms Against Leaves didn't prevail against noise bylaws! And this even though a peaceful silent leaf (or a drift of such) was to some more objectionable than a full-on noise assault by gas-powered leaf blowers.
Hello, Police? Is this 911? I want to report a crime. I saw several stray leaves on the sidewalk. Why don't you get out there and do roadblocks? Why don't you fine them?
Fine leaves?
No! Fine the idiot householders who don't tidy their gardens. Not a leaf-blower in sight, and now look at the mess ...
We discourage noise, sir.
What? Canadians have a Right to Bear Arms Against Leaves. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms trumps municipal noise bylaws, and ...
There's no right to bear leaf-blowers listed in the Charter ...
I don't care. We're talking about visual pollution here. There are too many trees. They throw litter in gutters and block out the sun -- shady characters every one of them. (Next thing we know, someone will ban chain saws -- THEN how will we keep our Rights and Freedoms?)
Thanks, Oak Bay! Now what about the rest of the CRD?
Let's bear rakes -- neither mechanical noise nor emissions come from them.
