Rules for new backyard swimming pools remain in effect

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The fourth wall of the fence required around new backyard swimming pools won't be coming down anytime soon, after Toronto Council voted to uphold its current requirements in the name of safety this week.

Councillors were taking a second look at the city's bylaw, which is more restrictive than those in some other jurisdictions, to see if the rules were really necessary. Toronto's bylaw requires that backyard pools be fenced in not just on three sides - the back and either side of the lot - but also on the fourth side, facing the residence.

A staff report reviewing the options concluded that the four-sided fence was the best way to protect the safety of children aged six or under, who otherwise might wander into a pool and drown.

Some councillors said the requirement was unnecessary.

Ward 2 (Etobicoke North) Councillor Rob Ford, who told council he has spent his entire life in a home with a swimming pool, said the fences were no substitute for parental attention.

"You have to have responsible parents, nannies," he said. "I was born with a pool, we had it my whole life. Is there anyone in this room who says we don't want to keep kids safe? Of course not. But when you implement a four-sided fence bylaw - kids climb fences."

Ward 29 (Toronto-Danforth) Councillor Case Ootes pointed out that when he visited his native Holland, children played next to open ponds of water.

"The place where I grew up, there were canals all over the place and not fenced in," Ootes said. "It's a case of supervision. By definition, a child (who) drowns isn't properly supervised."

But councillors voted to keep the controls. Ward 15 (Eglinton-Lawrence) Councillor Howard Moscoe chairs the licensing and standards committee, and said industry lobbying on the matter has distorted the issue for some councillors.

"Frankly, the lobbying has been intense on this," Moscoe said. "But it's very simple. I am not embarrassed by the fact that we are the only jurisdiction in North America that has the safest pools. This is about kids and about safety and about the death of infants."