Today, I rise to recognize a great Canadian and Taiwanese hero, Dr. George Leslie Mackay. As we take the opportunity to celebrate him today, on what would be his 180th birthday, his legacy of service to the people of Taiwan has never been more prominent.

George Leslie Mackay was born and raised right in Oxford, near the village of Embro. Mackay charted new paths as the first Presbyterian missionary to Taiwan. He went on to establish a mission in the town of Tamsui, which remained his home for the rest of his life.

Mackay embraced the island’s customs, traditions and people. His generous and accepting spirit compelled him to serve his community any way that he could. He spent almost 30 years building schools, founding churches and practising dentistry in his adopted homeland.

Mackay advocated for women’s rights and spoke against discrimination and championed public health care. Some of his most notable accomplishments include building Taiwan’s first school for girls and a major hospital in Tamsui.

On his birthday, we celebrate Mackay’s legacy of investing in Taiwan. Having laid the foundations for innovative education and a cutting-edge health care system, Mackay would be proud to see Taiwan reap the benefits of its now prosperous and mature democracy.

As our trade ties become stronger every year with increasing bilateral investments, I’m grateful to Dr. George Leslie Mackay for helping to establish an enduring friendship and shared confidence between Taiwan and Ontario.

I’d like to welcome to the House Director General Jin-Ling Chen and members of the Taiwanese community who are here to celebrate the birthday of George Leslie Mackay. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

I just wanted to wish a happy 56th birthday to my big brother, Jeff Smith.

“Whereas in 2015 the Liberal Party of Ontario with their leader Kathleen Wynne who was the Premier of Ontario at the time announced that Ontario would implement a cap-and-trade carbon tax scheme; and

“Whereas the Liberal government of Ontario began their cap-and-trade carbon tax scheme on January 1, 2017; and

“Whereas this cap-and-trade carbon tax scheme immediately raised the price of every consumable product in Ontario; and

“Whereas during the provincial election in 2018 the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario campaigned against this unfair tax on the people of Ontario; and

“Whereas the newly elected Doug Ford Progressive Conservative government of Ontario repealed this unfair tax on the people of Ontario; and

“Whereas in 2018, the federal Liberal government passed the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act; and

“Whereas on January 1, 2019, the federal government’s output-based pricing system for large emitters came into force; and

“Whereas the federal carbon tax forced on the people of Ontario on fuels came into effect on April 1, 2019; and

“Whereas the federal carbon tax forced on the people of Ontario will rise by an additional 23% on April 1, 2024; and

“Whereas the federal carbon tax forced on the people of Ontario is a tax on the factors of production (i.e., labour, capital, and intermediate inputs). Intermediate inputs are goods and services (such as energy) used in producing goods and services; and

“Whereas the federal carbon tax forced on the people of Ontario will raise the intermediate input cost and thereby increase production or business costs. Intermediate input costs play an essential role in most businesses, affecting the final price at which goods and services will be sold to customers, which in turn influences the business’ profitability; and

“Whereas when the federal carbon tax forced” upon “the people of Ontario is applied to refineries, utility companies, and other intermediaries that supply electricity, fuel, and other energy that industries use. The tax then translates into higher fuel prices, which in turn increases input costs for other industries; and

“Whereas the production of goods and services necessitates business input costs which include capital, goods, services, energy, wages, and salaries, production costs will increase by more than 10% in the utilities industry” alone; and

“Whereas in 2023 Ontario’s agriculture sector” saw a “6.7%” increase in production costs for the use of “energy; and

“Whereas in 2023 Ontario’s forestry sector” saw a “7.7%” increase in production costs in the cost of “energy; and

“Whereas Ontario’s electric power generation, transmission, and distribution sector will see a cost increase of almost 11.8% due to the federal carbon tax forced onto the people of Ontario. (Electric power generation uses natural gas in the generation mix, which accounts for 5.8% of the industry’s inputs.) At 62%, iron and steel manufacturing will see the highest cost increase of all industries from the carbon tax; and

“Whereas the federal carbon tax is costing Ontarians, on average almost $500 per year, increasing annually until 2030, when the average cost for an Ontario household will be faced with an annual federal carbon tax bill” greater than their rebate by more than “$1,416 annually; and

“Whereas there is a federal fuel charge that applies to all purchases of different fuels such as gasoline, propane, and diesel,” and “this hurts the daily aspect of life” of people in Ontario, “especially those residents of northern Ontario and Indigenous communities where prices are significantly higher than elsewhere across the province; and

“Whereas the Chiefs of Ontario have been calling on the federal government to consult with them on the impact that this harmful tax is having on all of their communities; and

“Whereas due to the federal government’s failure to address the First Nations’ concerns, the Chiefs of Ontario have filed for judicial review into the application of the carbon tax in Indigenous communities; and

“Whereas the Chiefs of Ontario have called this federal carbon tax anti-reconciliatory and discriminatory; and

“Whereas those in northern Ontario do not have a choice when it comes to how they heat their homes, they are using home heating fuels such as natural gas or propane; and

“Whereas increasing the federal carbon tax by 23%” on April 1 “will see an increase of almost $400 per year for a family in northern Ontario to heat their home; and

“Whereas home heating is not a luxury and Ontarians should not be unfairly forced to pay additional costs to stay warm during the winter months; and

“Whereas the federal Parliamentary Budget Officer just concluded that the federal government finances will increase the deficit by $5.2 billion in 2030-31; and

“Whereas a higher federal carbon tax will have a negative impact by shrinking the economy by” an estimated “1.8%; and

“Whereas a higher federal carbon tax will have a negative impact on approximately 185,000 jobs across” Canada; “and

“Whereas the federal carbon tax has contributed to inflation, high taxes and big spending, which is leading to higher interest rates and is forcing thousands of people out of the housing market; and

“Whereas the federal carbon tax has shown to have a significant impact on inflation, which accounts for a 16% rise in inflation last year alone; and

“Whereas truckers in the province of Ontario are facing an additional cost of about 17.5 cents per litre; and

“Whereas this increase in fuel costs will translate to an annual cost of $15,000 to $20,000” per truck; “and

“Whereas small businesses across the province of Ontario, especially those with fleets of trucks, the federal carbon tax could add up to an additional $100,000 annually; and

“Whereas this increase in cost will lead to layoffs or forcing those small businesses to close their doors permanently; and

“Whereas 60% of households in Ontario pay more in carbon taxes than they receive in rebates. This figure could increase by 80% by 2026; and

“Whereas farmers are the experts on improving climate impact on their farms, and the federal carbon tax penalizes those farmers who are working hard to create greener farming” opportunities; “and

“Whereas since its introduction, the production costs for farmers, greenhouse growers and food processors have increased significantly. The delivery of every single consumer good in our province, particularly fresh and processed food, is being impacted by this punitive tax; and

“Whereas the federal carbon tax is driving up the cost of transporting agricultural inputs such as seed, fertilizer and packaging; and

“Whereas the federal carbon tax is driving up the cost of transporting fruits and vegetables to market; and

“Whereas rural Ontario is home to more than 2.5 million people and as the federal carbon price rises so will the cost of food and energy; and

“Whereas the federal carbon tax is not working to reduce emissions. Instead, it is simply driving up the costs of goods, services, and other essential items for the people of Ontario; and”—

It’s always an honour to rise. I don’t have a happy birthday wish for anyone, but I’m certainly happy to debate Bill 171, Enhancing Professional Care for Animals Act.

I just want to say that I was listening to the member from Kiiwetinoong’s debate remarks, and his remarks really highlight the consequences of having a shortage of veterinarians across Ontario, but especially in the north. And so, one of the reasons that I’ll be supporting this bill is, it’s an important step towards addressing that shortage—but it’s not going to be a sufficient step, and I’m going to talk about that in my remarks.

I do want to say that this is an important step forward in professionalizing and modernizing veterinary care in Ontario and, in particular, recognizing the role that the college plays in providing regulation and governance and doing that in a way where technology is changed.

I think schedule 2 of the bill is particularly important—expanding the scope of registered veterinary technicians. When you talk to humane societies, when you talk to veterinarians—the ability for technicians to operate at their full scope of practice is a really important step forward, and it will hopefully allow more team-based veterinary care. I’ve been a strong advocate of team-based care, especially primary care, for people, and I believe we need more team-based care for animals as well, whether it’s in agriculture or with our pets.

Speaker, I want to take a moment to talk about the fact that in Canada, each and every year, 350 veterinarians retire and less than 350 veterinarians are educated to replace them, and that has been happening year over year over year.

As a matter of fact, at the University of Guelph—I’ll just say, the Ontario Veterinary College is Canada’s top-rated veterinary college, a top-five veterinary college in the world, and the oldest veterinary college in all of North America; an outstanding treasure for our province and, obviously, for the city of Guelph, which I proudly represent—they have graduated 120 vets per year for the last 15 years. They need to graduate more vets. They are going to start to graduate more veterinarians, but I think we need to even increase the number they’re going to graduate. I want to talk about the process that has enabled them to have a few more vets that they’re graduating, and it relates to the comments from the member from Kiiwetinoong. I think it demonstrates what can happen in this House—and it sometimes too rarely happens in this House—when we can work across party lines to get things done.

I want to give a quick shout-out to the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, who I approached probably two years ago, and I said, “People at the University of Guelph are telling me we need more veterinarians and we need more veterinarians in the north, and they have a proposal they put forward to partner with Lakehead University to make that happen.” And I’ll give a shout-out to the member from Elgin–Middlesex–London, who I also approached, as a graduate of the University of Guelph, and said, “Can you help me work on this? We’ve got to convince the minister”—who was pretty easy to convince—“but then we have to convince the Minister of Colleges and Universities that this is a good program to support.” And we got that minister on board. Then, leading up to the budget last year—and I know budget day is next week—we all did, I think, a pretty strong push to the Minister of Finance that that should be included in last year’s budget.

To me, it’s an example of how we can work across party lines and how an MPP who may be in opposition but can still advocate for something good in their riding can actually work with government to get something in the budget.

When Steve Paikin, on TVO’s The Agenda, last year, asked me, “Mike, what’s one good thing?”—because I was giving the government a pretty rough time on the budget last year, and Mr. Paikin asked me, “Can you tell me one good thing in that budget?” I said, “Funding for the University of Guelph and Lakehead University to partner together to graduate 20 additional veterinarians each and every year over the next four years—hopefully, 80 additional veterinarians—with a focus on serving the north.”

I want to say to the member from Kiiwetinoong, my hope is that members from Indigenous communities go to Lakehead, start their first two years in that program, and then come down to Guelph and tell them to reach out to the member for Guelph, go to his office. He’ll be there to support them, welcome them to Guelph, hopefully show them a good time in Guelph for the two years they study in Guelph, so they can return to the north and provide care for the dogs you talked about and also provide care for the large animals in the growing farm sector we see in northern Ontario. And that’s something Ontario desperately needs. It’s something I can get behind and I think all members of this House can get behind.

But I want to make one final push to the finance minister before next week’s budget: Our post-secondary educational sector needs more resources and support. I know the government announced some additional funding, but it’s going to be insufficient. Universities like the University of Guelph, who do so much to educate students and their research, does so much to promote our food and farming sector—and the Ontario Veterinary College does so much to support our ag sector and people’s pets. Let’s increase the number of spaces at OVC so we can even graduate even more veterinarians to serve the people of Ontario.

The member opposite just gave me a great reminder—and I want to also say happy birthday to the member’s niece.

I thought at this time I might as well say happy birthday to my mom, Lina. I won’t say how many years old she is, but she’s quite a young lady, and she’s a pretty awesome mom. I’ll make sure to get a copy of Hansard and send this to her, because she’ll probably be pretty excited about that. So, thank you, and thanks for the reminder.