Meatless Mondays has been moved off the table at city hall.

Council defeated a motion with a 4-3 vote at its meeting Monday night that would have seen it designate Mondays as Meatless Mondays.

The proposal had been designed to encourage restaurants, grocery stores and schools to offer more variety of fruits and vegetables and encourage residents to not eat meat on Mondays.

Councillors Florence Roberts, Betty Irwin, Ranj Pillai and Doug Graham voted against the move.

Mayor Bev Buckway and Councillors Dave Austin and Dave Stockdale favoured the proposal put forward earlier this month by Andrew Buchan and Suat Tuzlak.

In pitching the idea to council, Buchan and Tuzlak said the declaration would make the city the first municipality to adopt a movement that's gaining speed around the world.

The motion mainly focused on the negative impact industrial meat has on the world, the pair argued.

Designating one day a week where meat is not consumed would cut down significantly on issues related to ecology harm and personal carbon impacts, and improve the health of residents, they said.

The pair also recognized the role hunting and fishing play in the territory, noting the designation applies to industrial meat rather than wild game.

However, the four councillors who voted against the proposed designation argued the city doesn't have a role to play in the diets of its residents.

"I don't think it's really up to us,” Roberts said, voicing a sentiment echoed later by the other three.

Most families she knows in the city tend to go a day without meat, though for many, it's not by choice but due to financial constraints.

Pillai also commented that while he doesn't necessarily disagree with paring meat consumption, when the city takes on something like this, it has to also consider how it will communicate its point.

That can take time and money to do it right. Miscommunication, he argued, can result in an idea being misconstrued.

The city already has a number of other issues which fall more directly under its jurisdiction, Pillai added.

Graham said there are other issues to tackle, and he doesn't believe this is a matter that's under the city's jurisdiction.

He did, however, state his support of Austin's "medialess Mondays”.

Austin made the comment in reference to an article published elsewhere about the issue that also spoke of "Tequila Tuesdays”.

He also stated his support and agreement with Stockdale's comments earlier in the meeting.

Stockdale pointed out that the city promotes healthy lifestyles of its citizens through a number of initiatives.

"It may be a little silly,” he acknowledged, before going on to state that this would be a good way to raise awareness on the issue and potentially help the environment.

The city would not be suggesting everyone has to become a vegetarian, he said.

Austin said a little initiative such as Meatless Mondays has to start somewhere, and it could at the city level that it starts here.

Although the proposal was defeated, Buchan said Tuesday he's wasn't too disappointed nor surprised at the outcome.

"I'm happy they even considered it,” he said, adding he believes he and Tuzlak were successful in raising awareness about reducing meat consumption.

"We're not talking about making people vegetarian,” he said.

Buchan said he was glad word of having one day each week designated for plant-based eating got out to the public to begin thinking about how they eat.

While the city has opted not to take on the cause, Buchan said he and Tuzlak will continue to promote the idea to organizations around town.