READ MORE: Reid Fiest explains what you could now be fined for in the town of Taber.
Taber, Alberta has a reputation for growing some of the sweetest corn, but many in the small town only have sour taste in their mouth from a new Community Standards Bylaw.
Last month, the community passed the bylaw to combine a number of already existing individual rules.
But, some of the rules the bylaw encompasses are getting a lot of attention.
Swear or yell in public and you could be handed at $150 dollar fine.
Spit and you’ll face a $75 ticket.
Loiter in a group of three or more and it could be $250 dollars, for the first offense.
READ MORE: Don’t paint a wooden ladder in Alberta & 11 more quirky Canadian laws
The rules have many critical of town council and police, but Taber’s mayor Henk De Vlieger said they will not lead to a crackdown in the community.
“Just like everything else in life, we use common sense and those bylaws are for extreme circumstances,” said De Vliger.
But University of Calgary political scientist Lisa Lambert said the bylaw is unconstitutional and embarrassing.
“We need to stand up and say we can’t accept this type of a law in a town,” says Lambert.
Some of the town residents and people on social media are likening it Kevin’s Bacon’s battle against a dancing ban in the movie Footloose (For those who haven’t seen the 1984 film, the ban gets overturned in the end.)
READ MORE: ‘Save Us Bacon’ campaign hopes Kevin Bacon will help protest Taber bylaw
But these kinds of bylaws are not unique.
In fact, varying degrees of them are in effect in most Canadian cities.
In Calgary for instance, putting your foot or standing on a bench could mean a $50 fine. Although, no tickets have ever been handed out for violating that one.
Proponents of the Community Standards Bylaw say the idea behind the rules is just to promote good behavior. and officials say fines would be only be enforced in extreme circumstances.
Taber will review the bylaw in six months.
“We want to try it out for a half a year and after half a year we work with it,” said De Vlieger. “We might have to adjust it one way or the other.”
With files from Karen Bartko and Erika Tucker
Comments