The meat versus veggie debate at Edmonton City Hall appears to be off the table.
A report from the City of Edmonton Youth Council had hoped to convince councillors to serve vegetarian or vegan food for all catered city council meetings.
However at the Council Services Committee meeting on Monday, councillors chose not to even vote on the issue.
“I would have liked to see there been a formal vote on the motion itself, but we understand these sort of procedures have their place,” said Marina Banister, chair of the youth council.
Councillor Ed Gibbons said he would not want to go against the beef industry and suggested the youth group was wasting council’s time.
“If you don’t want to eat beef, so be it,” said Gibbons. “But don’t come in and tell me what kind of trays I can pick, on the odd time that we have stuff coming in to council.”
“You’re insulting our neighbours all around us in the beef industry,” said Gibbons.
Representatives from the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association travelled to Edmonton from Calgary for the meeting.
“If the decision had been made to cut out beef from the menu for sustainability reasons, I do believe that would have been a black mark on the Canadian beef industry and one that is not deserved,” said Jolene Noble with Canadian Cattlemen’s Association.
