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Two of three mayoral front-runners support Meatless Mondays for Toronto |
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Saturday, 16 October 2010 |
According to a recent poll conducted by the Toronto Vegetarian Association, George Smitherman & Joe Pantalone would support Meatless Mondays as mayor
TORONTO - As the election draws near, a burning question was asked on behalf of Toronto’s growing vegetarian community: “As mayor, would you endorse a Meatless Mondays resolution by city council, encouraging schools, restaurants and grocery stores to offer more plant-based options, for both health and environmental benefits?”
Smitherman and Pantalone were among eight mayoral candidates polled by the association.
“We were definitely happy to see two of the top three candidates in the race respond in favour of the resolution”, states David Alexander, the Executive Director of the TVA. “The question of what we eat is a growing concern for people in progressive cities like Toronto and with the upcoming election we thought it was a timely one to ask.”
The TVA launched a Meatless Mondays campaign earlier this year, encouraging non-vegetarians to commit to a meat-free day at least once a week. TVA believes both people and the planet benefit from a reduction in animal food products.
“We all know there are growing environmental and health problems directly caused by our over-dependence on meat. Eating vegetarian one day a week seems like a pretty simple solution anyone can adopt, so we were curious to know if our next mayor would be willing to take the lead and encourage Torontonians to participate in this global initiative.”
Meatless Mondays is a worldwide initiative spearheaded by John Hopkins School of Public Health Center for a Livable Future as a way to support the prevention of chronic diseases and minimize the substantial impact of animal agriculture on the environment. It has been adopted by major cities, including San Francisco and Washington DC, and publicly endorsed by environmental heavyweights like Al Gore.
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