From the “I swear to God I am not making this up” department:
From the Legislative Assembly of Ontario website:
…
I don’t think there’s anything I could constructively add to this.
I seem to recall that similar legislation was mooted in one Australian state (Queensland?) a while ago, but I don’t think it was enacted.
Can you still have a toss in the hay with a toss-pot dwarf,or would that be considered dwarf date rape?
:: puzzled look ::
I can’t ever recall dwarf tossing to be a problem here in Ontario.
Actually, I can’t ever recall dwarf tossing occurring here in Ontario.
They might have thrown them all out of Ontario.
And steady up with those Queensland jokes. 
Appearantly the law doesn’t define dwarf tossing at all. So what’s to stop people from saying it’s something else, like “midget frisbee”? Seems like the dwarf with a competent lawyer could get tossed as much as he wants.
In Australia, when the dwarf tossing ban was enacted, it was dwarfs that made money from this noble sport that complained, as I recall.
By the way, is “dwarf” a politically correct term for a person of restricted growth, or could it be seen as insulting?
This was a fairly big issue in the mid-late 80s, when there was a (as far as I know) fairly brief fad for this ‘sport.’
THe people against it (You’re exploiting the dwarves!) always infuriated me. It wasn’t like dwarves were being kidnapped and forced to participate; they were competent adults who chose to play. And it always struck me that it was a two person sport - the tosser and the tossee, so to speak, so that the skill and ability of the dwarf were as important as those of the tosser. But even if it weren’t, how dare you tell a competent adult that he is being exploited?
I’m a liberal, but this is one area in which I divide big time from liberals in general. As far as I am concerned, you can not exploit a competent adult except by deceiving him or her - s/he is the only person capable of making the decision as to whether the benefit of a situation outweighs the cost for him/herself. Certainly there is no deceit involved in dwarf-tossing!
By the way, it’s “dwarfs” not “dwarves”. The spelling “dwarves” was invented by Tolkien to refer to his fantasy species of short guys with big axes and beards who lived for centuries. As opposed to short humans. IIRC.
Oh goody, my tax dollars at work… :rolleyes:
I could see if this was some overreaction to the 80’s fad, but this was in 2003 for gosh sakes!! Does anyone even do this anymore!? Is there some sort of secret underground club?
“The first rule of Dwarf Club is - you do not talk about Dwarf Club.”
I guess they decided that Ontario didn’t need that much money from tourism…
No dwarf tossing in Ontario, no necrophilia in California…how’s a guy supposed to have a little fun on this continent?
I’m not sure how this works in the first place but, like bowling, I’d imagine it’s a bad thing if your fingers get stuck in a hole.
Watch for dwarf-tossing parlours to open up shortly in Manitoba and Quebec.
I’m with Oy!. I remember a similar issue in some american city or another. The only vocal opposition to the ban came from the dwarfs themselves, who felt that the city council should not be making it harder for them to earn a living.
-lv
If I were a dwarf who wanted to get tossed in Ontario, I think I’d have the basis for a Charter challenge. It’s discriminatory that dwarfs can’t choose to be tossed, whereas tall people can be tossed if they choose to be.
Ontario is behind the times on this.
http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/09/27/dwarf.throwing/
Personally, I think dwarf tossing is the pinnacle of idiocy, but in “protecting” little people we are actually treating them like children who cannot be trusted make their own decisions.
I related news, Ontario is petitioning the governments of New Zealand, the UK, and the US, respectively, demanding that Peter Jackson, John Rhys-Davies, and Viggo Mortensen be handed over for trial.
Organizing dwarf tossing events is legal in Ontario. The bill to ban it died on the table after first reading. http://www.ontla.on.ca/library/bills/97374.htm
I’m not sure whether to be :mad: that you stole the idea for a joke that I was planning to post here, or to compliment you on coming up with a better twist on it than I’d thought of.
I’ve always felt you can tell the measure of a man by the quality of his enemies, so I’d take it as a personal favor if you’d hate my guts over it. 