HALIFAX—A Halifax councillor is hoping to ban bull-riding events from city-owned buildings.

Coun. Shawn Cleary brought a motion to regional council’s meeting on Tuesday asking for a staff report “on restricting all animal acts for entertainment, including bull riding on or in” municipally-owned facilities such as the downtown Scotiabank Centre.

Cleary argued events such as the Professional Bull Riders Monster Energy Tour, which has made annual stops at the Scotiabank Centre over the past few years, are archaic displays of animal cruelty.

“We used to have cock fighting, we used to have dog fighting, we used to have all kinds of things that we don’t do anymore,” Cleary said during debate on Tuesday.

“Bull riding, as one example, in our own government facility, is one where you do harm the animal with the straps.”

Cleary’s motion said the restrictions would not prohibit animals from agricultural fairs, exhibitions or pet shows — “including horse or ox-pulls as traditionally practiced at county fairs and exhibitions” — or horse and dog racing, horse-riding or educational exhibitions.

He said he’d like to ban bull-riding events completely, but that would put the municipality on shaky legal ground.

“We really don’t have the authority to ban them outright, but we can develop policies within our own municipal buildings,” he said.

Coun. Bill Karsten supported Cleary’s motion, but wondered aloud whether council would be overstepping its bounds by telling the municipally-owned, but Crown corporation-operated Scotiabank Centre what events to hold.

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“We don’t make the decisions,” Karsten said.

The motion passed 15-1. Coun. Paul Russell, who was sworn in on Tuesday, was the sole vote against it, saying he felt the request was too broad in scope.

The Professional Bull Riders Monster Energy Tour last stopped in Halifax in June, and has faced animal rights protesters in the past. There are no events currently listed for Halifax in 2020, though there are stops planned for Moncton and Sydney.

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