Chicken runs for Toronto
By Don Peat ,City Hall Bureau Chief
TORONTO - They’ve banned shark fin and banished elephants but now Toronto city council could be poised to allow backyard chickens.
Councillor Joe Mihevc said a report is expected in the new year on the idea that will recommend allowing residents to raise chickens in their backyards.
“Frankly, in my view we should try it,” Mihevc told the Toronto Sun.
Mihevc stressed chickens are not the sole issue pro-poultry councillors are focused on at City Hall.
“There is a constituency out there that would like to raise backyard hens,” he said.
Chickens are allowed in most U.S. municipalities and several Canadian cities are starting to hatch plans to allow limited numbers of egg-laying hens, Mihevc said.
“It’s part of an urban food movement,” he added.
Mihevc pointed out Toronto Public Health officials say allowing the chickens wouldn’t create a human health issue.
“There is no public health reason why it couldn’t go forward,” he said.
Rookie Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon is egg-static over the idea.
During the last marathon city council meeting, McMahon was pitching the idea to other councillors to build support.
McMahon argues there are plenty of chickens living illegally in Toronto backyards right now.
She adds roosters would still be banned in order to avoid neighbourhood noise.
But not everyone may be egg-cited over this proposal.
Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday said he’s never dealt with such an issue in his entire political career but imagined lots of residents won’t be too keen to have chickens moving in next door.
“I’d wish they’d apply their talents to trying to solve our budget woes,” he said of his council colleagues.
It is also unclear whether Mayor Rob Ford would support backyard chickens.
Back in 2010, Ford - then a mayoral candidate - argued Hogtown was no place to keep chickens.
“We’re not living on the farm,” Ford said in April 2010. “This is the city. We’re not farm country.”
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