Just what we need, an official horse

When it comes to silly ideas all one has to do is follow the antics of the people elected to the House of Assembly.

Lost last week amidst the provincial budget announcement was an item from an MLA who is proposing that the province declare the Sable Island pony Nova Scotia’s official horse.

Getting by for centuries now without an official horse apparently concerns this MLA.

And he aims to correct such an oversight.

Now get a grip here folks.

If you were compiling a list of the things this province really needs, how far down the list would you have to go before you pencil in: “declare the Sable Island pony Nova Scotia’s official horse” ?

We would hope it would be well below the need for a minimum wage that gets people out of poverty.

And below the need for more hospital beds.

Lower than the need for long-term care facilities.

And surely further back of fixing highways that are, well…fit for a horse.

Our Legislature, like those in other provinces, is rarely without its comedic moments but dragging this issue to the House has got to be right up there among the things we have gotten along quite nicely without and could probably go a few more centuries without.

Is there an outcry from horse lovers out there for an official mount? If there is we’ve yet to hear it.

Is this the stuff of which a referendum should be held?

Are you in favour of Sunday shopping? What about declaring an official horse?

What’s next? The official insect?

How about the official car?

Or would that be slighting the horses since cars have replaced them?

Will declaring a pony a horse really make a difference in our quality of life?

An animal that few people in the province ever see since the vast majority of them are milling about in the sand dunes miles off our coast on an island nobody’s allowed to visit.

You might just as well declare an official dinosaur since you’re not apt to see one of those either.

But if you’re wanting to declare an official jackass, start looking in the House of Assembly, you’re sure to find one there.