Toronto city council votes to let cats roam the streets -- at least for now

City hall also provides updates on the Roncesvalles Polish Festival, 2026 World Cup and a looming $857-million budget defecit

Thestar.com
July 21, 2022
Ben Cohen

City council rejected a proposal Wednesday to cur-tail the freedom of domestic cats.

Instead of enacting an anti-roaming bylaw backed by a city committee earlier this month to keep pets indoors, council voted to amend the motion and grant an exception to domestic cats and pigeons.

Coun. Shelley Carroll (Ward 17, Don Valley North) initially moved the motion to both to protect cats from danger and to protect wildlife from cats.

Carroll, who cited an Environment Canada study that found cats killed upward of 200 million birds annually, was supported by environmentalists, including the director of the Toronto Wildlife Centre.

Mayor John Tory opposed the motion, telling reporters earlier this month he didn’t think the motion, if made into law, would be enforceable.

At Wednesday’s council meeting, council carried an amended version of Carroll’s motion, which will allow cats to be unleashed on the street, but also calls for continuing work on increasing the rate of licences and micro-chipping of domestic cats.

Carroll said Wednesday that chipping and licensing cats is paramount to keeping them off the streets.

“Every GTA municipality around us has an anti-roaming bylaw,” she said. “They have it because they’ve been more successful than us (with pet licences). Only four per cent of (Toronto) cats are licenced. That’s what makes it possible to have an anti-roaming bylaw, because you can pick them up and get them back to their owners with a warning, not end up with a shelter full of cats.”

The motion also prohibits the feeding of wildlife, other than via bird-feeders. As well, Torontonians can now only have a maximum of four rabbits or guinea pigs -- unless they already own more than four now, in which case they can keep up to 10.

And pigeon owners must now keep their flock under 30 birds. Unless it’s breeding season, when they can have 50.

Other developments from council on Wednesday included:

• A motion by Coun. Mark Grimes (Ward 3, Etobicoke-Lakeshore) to request the Roncesvalles Village BIA reconsider renaming its Polish Festival was carried. The BIA’s move to drop “Polish” from the festival’s name this month sparked outcry.
• Tory’s motion to fill councillor-cum-MPP Michael Ford’s spot on the police board with Grimes passed.
• Ford’s former council seat (Ward 1, Etobicoke North) remains vacant after his replacement, Rosemarie Bryan, resigned hours after her appointment when her homophobic social media posts surfaced. Tory’s motion to try to fill the seat again in August carried, as well as his other motion to request the province to allow council to keep seats vacant if spots open late into an election year.
• Council adopted a motion from Coun. Frances Nunziata (Ward 12, York South--Weston) to support the establishment of a Somali Community Cultural and Recreation Centre in Toronto.
• Council approved executing a multi-party agreement to host FIFA World Cup 2026 games. Costs are estimated at $300 million and will be split with the provincial and federal governments.
• There is a high city staff vacancy rate -- 12.4 per cent. Some councillors cited the availability of higher-paying private sector jobs as a reason. Tory said a vacancy rate that high means service suffers and residents feel like they aren’t getting what they pay for.
• Toronto is projected to go $857 million over budget this year. Tory said he’s working to get funding from the provincial and federal governments, and encouraged councillors to help by writing letters to provincial and federal officials.