You guys want it off the menu and we want it to never hit store shelves here in the US. I read an article that we're in talks to start having horse meat prepared in store which is why I said that. Either way, I agree with anyone that wants horse meat pulled from the menu.

Farmers and ranchers that have large tracts of land just turn mares out with draft type stallions. As long as there is grass, the mares look after themselves not like cows that have to be fed in winter. They call it "harvesting" horses. The owner of the Fort Mcleod slaughter house owns thousands of acres and grows his own hay and grain. Every week from Calgary International Air Port and from SeaTec in Seattle, draft type horses are shipped out live, 3 to a crate to Japan. The meat is eaten raw and is very expensive. These are drug free horses bred for meat. I have repeatedly asked Conservative MP Bruce Stanton where these farms are. Up to now NO REPLY. This info did not come from him. What is to stop kill-buyers from buying horses from ANYWHERE & turning them out to forge for themselves? These horses will have drugs in them & some of these drugs stay in their systems for ever. this sounds like easy money so anybody will get on this band wagon.So easy to cheat with a system like the one in Canada!

Shame the CBC did not concentrate on the real issue which is that horses are not raised as food animals and are given drugs banned from human consumption. Drugs that are not allowed to be given to animals raised for food. I guess CBC is not as independent from the government as we would like to think.
I feel that soon lawyers will get involved and start suing people for allowing tainted meat to be processed and sold, just like what happened with the cigarette industry. Wonder if individual restaurant owners will be sued?

A lot of people find eating cow pretty offensive...

Anyway, I've had horse twice; once in Wales and once in France.
It was OK.
Nothing special.

If & when I can no longer afford to care for my 9 horses they will be humanely euthanized on my property. They will never have to endure a long tortured ride in a too small double-decker tractor trailer made for cows. Horse slaughter is not humane & results in stressed meat! Factory farming & slaughtering of ANY animals is not good for you. Many changes are needed for the livestock industry. Cattle, sheep, poultry & pig producers have to jump through many government hoops & still the meat is laced with steroids & antibiotics to name a few. Horses come from many walks in life & are subjected to many different drugs for many reasons. It is impossible to test for them all & not feasible to test every horse. Who will pay for this? Kill-buyers forge papers & governments lie. McCains were policing themselves & how many people died? Government supports BIG AG & multi.nationals..this is about big money. They are all in on it....Equine Canada, the glossy horse magazines that promote more horse breeding. Equine Canada has pages on proper horse euthanasia but say nothing about the infractions that go on EVERY day to THOUSANDS of horses...same with the glossy magazines! Big Ag is in bed with Equine Canada...check it out ...Support your local small family farms (there are none around here breeding horses for meat) Support your local farmers market...we care what you eat ...we are eating it too!

Let me be clear right now: My horse contains chemical wormer (once a month), antibiotics (lots of them a couple of years ago), live vaccines (for all kinds of nasty stuff, avian flu and such) and tons of fly spray (absorbed through the skin). You do not want to eat him, believe me!

Where did my post go? The Conservatives support horse slaughter. I have repeatedly asked Conservative MP Bruce Stanton & Conservative MP Garfield Dunlop were are these farms that raise horses for their meat in Canada.......NO REPLY! This newspaper needs to publish some of the facts as to where these horses come from. Forbes is ahead of you ......so is Marketwatch

Critics seem to imply that only lately has horse meat been consumed in Canada however I recall that in the early fifties there was at least one butcher shop in Winnipeg,Manitoba which sold only horse meat for human consumption.I don't know if there were any more shops in Winnipeg or elsewhere in Canada or how long they stayed in business but I also recall that there was also a thriving horse meat industry before and after that time providing the main diet for ranch raised mink for the fur industry. So much for the arguments that horses are only "pets" and that we are "creating a European culture".

This is a conceptual distinction people choose to make between different animals. People eat cows, despite their similar size and large eyes. People eat rabbit despite them being sympathetic. People eat pigs despite their intelligence.
It is not for me to impose my taboos upon another person. Horses are not endangered nor is there a claim that they are being treated worse than other animals used for food.

This is not a concept which is so foreign in this country.
Raw horse meat is common in Quebec supermarkets.

Toronto prides itself on its multiculturalism and worldliness.
I have a great deal of respect for Shamez Almani, not only as a restaurateur but also as an important community builder in Toronto.
I have eaten at La Palette and was incredibly impressed with the quality of the food.
I did not have the horse (although I have eaten horse in Japan) but I recall remarking to my dining partner that the meat was some of the most tender and well prepared I have ever had.

La Palette should be commended for introducing a varied and high quality menu to the Queen West strip. Toronto diners are not such a provincial crowd that they can't appreciate quality even if it is somewhat challenging to their previous dining experiences.

European culture?

Mr. Shamez Amlani, if you want to serve horses, open your restaurant in the European country where people enjoy eating them.

Forgot to mention that that raw horse meat dish is called "americain prepare" in Belgium.

I am a new Canadian, originally from Belgium. Growing up in the fifties and sixties in Wallonie, I remember my mother sending me to the "boucherie chevaline" once a week for horse ground meat. We ate the meat raw, mixed with mayonnaise and capers on a roasted piece of bread and had "biere de table de Tirlemont" to wash it down. What's wrong with that?

Temple Grandan comments on how the slaughter plants are closed down before she is allowed to review or inspect.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Em9lEuomLOQ&feature=related

The CFIA is a corrupt!!!!!!
The US had banned horse slaughter and currently does not have any slaughtering of horses.
Canada, Mexico, you are disgusting!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXQVmE-yP10

I dare you to watch this.