Horse-drawn carriages are still a tradition in some Canadian cities
The horse-drawn carriage industry is again getting a lot of neigh-sayers, after New York City council passed a bill last week that would ban the rides by June 2028.
You can take a horse-drawn carriage tour in places like Victoria, Vancouver, Quebec City and Charlottetown
Verity Stevenson · CBC News
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The horse-drawn carriage industry is again getting a lot of neigh-sayers, after New York City council passed a bill last week that would ban the rides by June 2028.
The vote came after a teenage tourist died last spring when he was thrown from the carriage as a horse bolted away from its driver.
The legislation requires Mayor Zohran Mamdani's office to develop a plan by next April to help the more than 150 remaining drivers and the rest of the industry find other jobs, and it's revived an ongoing debate in North America over the practice of using horses to pull tourists on city streets.
In Canada, several large cities still permit horse-drawn carriage rides — or calèches, as they're known in Quebec — though this hasn't been without controversy.
Toronto banned the carriages in its downtown core in 1998, but Montreal didn't look into doing so until 20 years later. In 2018, a horse collapsed and died in the middle of a guided tour, prompting then-mayor Valérie Plante to propose a ban on the calèches that took effect in 2020.
The city worked with the provincial labour department to help calèches drivers find other work and offered to pay owners $1,000 per horse to retire the animals.
The move drew outcry, with horse carriage owner Denis Murray telling CBC at the time it was "stupid." Murray said he and his horse Sissi shared a close bond and that she enjoyed the work.
She was later adopted by a veterinarian couple in Quebec's Eastern Townships, where Murray said he was happy to see she appeared to be doing well.
Denis Murray with his horse Sissi. (Submitted by Denis Murray)
Canadian cities should 'take note': animal rights group
The tours have persisted elsewhere in the country, including Victoria, Vancouver, Quebec City and Charlottetown.
"It's time for other Canadian cities to take note," said Bianca Del Bois, a spokesperson for the Animal Alliance of Canada, who added that while the group is "delighted" to see Manhattan undertake a ban on the carriages, it also welcomes the measures for workers accompanying the legislation.
"I don't think the humans are lost in this," she added.
Sinikka Crosland of the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition agrees.
"This is an important consideration, making the end of the industry more fair and palatable," she told CBC.
'Hot-button issue' in Victoria
The opposition in Victoria has been spirited in the past decade, to say the least. In May 2018, a video showing two Victoria Carriage Tours horses slipping, tangling harnesses and collapsing near the Ogden Point cruise terminal after a minor bump with a bus went viral and caused outrage.
The B.C. SPCA called on Victoria City Council to ban horse-drawn carriages from busy downtown streets or restrict them strictly to park environments.
Activist groups like the Victoria Horse Alliance and the Animal Protection Party of Canada — which shares many members with the Animal Alliance — gathered tens of thousands of signatures and pushed for a complete phase-out or ban.
A horse-drawn carriage is seen in Victoria on March 24, 2016. Victoria councillors at the time considered tightening city regulations governing horse-drawn carriage tours as part of proposed wholesale changes to its animal control bylaw. (Chad Hipolito/The Canadian Press)
In May 2019, councillors weighed phase-out proposals and carriage operators threatened legal action against the city. Victoria's council ultimately struck down a motion to ban the horse-drawn carriage industry by a six-to-two vote in March 2020, allowing the operations to continue.
Protests continued, but Donna Friedlander, the owner and operator of Tally-Ho Carriage Tours, decried animal activists in The Times Colonist newspaper for harassing her employees.
She said protesters filmed her staff throughout their work day and surrounded them as they set out on tours, "hurtling unrelenting verbal assaults at my staff who are horse professionals, working tirelessly out of love to ensure the safety, health and happiness of the carriage horses," Friedlander wrote.
Colleen Mycroft, a spokesperson for the City of Victoria, recalled the issue being a "hot-button topic," with some of the protests taking place outside city hall.
"There were motions from councillors. There was pleading from those that were supporting the businesses. And then there were folks that thought it was cruelty to the horses … but nothing came of it," Mycroft said.
Changing practices ahead of city legislation
Two horse-drawn carriage tour companies continue to operate in Quebec City, where the 400-year-old buildings in the old quarters draw tourists from around the world.
One of them, Calèches Québec, notes in a voice message on its phone line that since 2025 it no longer offers last-minute or day-of tours, in the best interest of its horses.
The company did not immediately reply to CBC's request for more information.
A horse-drawn carriage carries people on the Plains of Abraham as part of Quebec City's winter carnival on Feb. 4, 2010. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press)
In Vancouver, park board staff considered removing "animal-powered transportation" from Stanley Park, where it is permitted. But, according to a statement from the board to CBC, "a review of recent Park Board records did not identify any motions from recent years seeking to end horse-drawn carriage tours in Stanley Park."
Whether the New York ban will convince these Canadian cities to rein in the horse carriages remains to be seen. Until then, the push and pull of those for and against this storied tradition is bound — just like time and the tides — to carry on.
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