“The calèche industry, that’s a big file that I was involved in and still am. And again, these horses are coming in from the country. So they’re coming into the country to work in the city. They’re not in the city on a regular basis, they stay in the city at the stables of a period of time. But the owners live in the country. So the animals, when they’re in the country roaming and doing things that’s one thing. More or less, they probably have a decent life.

When they’re in the city, they’re being exploited. They’re here to make money, they’re on the streets, in 28 degrees weather, whatever, it’s super humid, super hot. They’re out just so that a couple of people can take a carriage ride for $75 cash ’cause they thing it’s kind of romantic to get a tour of Old Montreal. There’s nothing romantic about exploiting an animal in conditions where you wouldn’t do that to a human being.

I think it’s important when you have industries like that that still exist in, we finally put an end to it. It’s gonna end at the end of this year, and I’m glad because hopefully, it’ll never come back. But things eventually arrive at an end. Horses where extremely important in our societies generations ago. There’s no argument that animals like that built the city. But they’re not building the city anymore. That’s not what they’re being used for. They’re sharing the roads now with cars and bikes and pedestrians and construction zones. Back in the day, it was just horses and horse carriages on the road. So horses had their place.”