Dog told it cannot run for mayor!

As election fever grips the UK, it seems prudent that the Canadians remind us of just how barmy politics can become. Roman Emperor Caligula once named a horse as one of his senators, with the thinking that it couldn’t do any worse than any of the senators at the time – and a dog owner in Clarington, a municipality east of Toronto in Canada, has had the same idea concerning his dog Genny.

Genny, a black Labrador, wanted to run for mayor of Clarington – but those pesky rules seem to have scuppered the dog’s chances. Apparently, according to the ‘rules’, you have to be human in order to stand for any political office in Canada – and Genny is, sadly, a dog. Caligula never stood for such red tape getting in the way!

Just like Caligula, Genny’s owner isn’t going to let the fact that Genny is a dog get in the way of his bid for her to become the first canine mayor of, well, anywhere probably. Marven Whidden claims that he will now start a letter writing campaign, or possibly a petition, in order to have Genny’s name added to the ballot paper.

Marven commented on Genny’s election promise:

People find dogs adorable because they wag their tails and not their tongues.

Marven added that while Genny waits for Canada to catch up with the progress needed to elect a dog mayor, she’ll happily chase sticks in her garden and continue to catch trout in the local creek.

Leanne Thompson