Since we’re talking about pets, I have to mention Louie, who is one of the hardest-working French bulldogs, owned by the Speaker herself. I saw a video last week of him working on—I think it was National Dog Day, so a shout-out to Louie.

Today I’m really excited speak on the PUPS Act, Bill 159, Preventing Unethical Puppy Sales Act, 2024, to amend the Provincial Animal Welfare Services Act, 2019.

I know there are so many people watching or who will listen or read this debate who have been working tirelessly for years and years and years to make these changes. So, for all the people, the volunteers at humane societies, to all the animal advocates out there, to Lynn Perrier—I know you’re watching, and I know you have a smile on your face—today is a good day for animal welfare in our province.

I used to always say that my mother was watching, but I have some pets at home, Bruce and Edward. They don’t watch TV during the day—and they have a houseguest named Baxster, so they’re all going to get in Hansard. Although they’re not watching TV, I always have to give a shout-out to my fur babies and our houseguest, Baxster, who is visiting for the next month.

Animal welfare: Where do we start? The PUPS Act addresses the important policy issue spotlighted in my very first private member’s bill here in this House, called Protecting Our Pets Act. My private member’s bill was put forward in this House in December 2018, and it received unanimous consent from this Legislature on second reading in March 2019. Due to my introduction of that bill, I received thousands of correspondence, including letters, emails, phone calls and had direct conversations from my own constituents and constituents not just in Ontario but all around the world, from animal advocates. It was clear that animal welfare was front of mind for the people in Ontario. It warms my heart to continue this debate today and continue on this important work of animal welfare.

I do want to thank our Premier, Doug Ford, who is an animal lover, and his family are animal lovers themselves, because it takes leadership to change these laws. Some of these laws haven’t been touched for over 100 years. So this government and the opposition as well because it was unanimous—we all in this House made a difference in animal welfare in our province. So I thank everybody in this House for their work.

The legislation we’re talking about today shows that as a team we are committed to a more compassionate world for our companion animals. I’d like to first quote one of the staff from the Canadian Kennel Club from when we introduced the PUPS Act back in December 2023. Jeff Cornett, who is the executive director of the Canadian Kennel Club, said that they support the “well-crafted legislation that is fair, non-discriminatory, and enforceable to target producers of unhealthy puppies, without unduly burdening responsible breeders. We look forward to working with the government to address the puppy mill issue and ensure that new legislation will consider the interests of responsible breeders who prioritize the health and well-being of dogs.”

That being said, we have to give a shout-out to breeders. There are good breeders out there. They are the ones who care for their pets, make sure they sell their pets to appropriate people. They do interviews. Anybody out there who is looking to buy a pet, if you go online, if someone is not interviewing you and asking questions of what kind of household you have, maybe that’s not the puppy or the pet you should be purchasing, because when you buy these pets, you have to make them their forever home. You certainly don’t want to take that forever-home pet to your home and have it be sick. So please do your homework before you go out and purchase your pets.

If passed, this bill will do exactly what the kennel club had suggested. It’s going to promote fair and ethical competition that values the welfare of animals over profit. In 2019, our government passed the PAWS Act, which I also had the opportunity to speak on.

Going back to the day I bought Bruce, I actually bought Bruce, which is my dog, from a volunteer—he was a rescue. He wasn’t a puppy mill dog, but he was a rescue dog. I was interviewed, and I actually knew the woman who was selling me the dog. It wasn’t really a sale, it was more to pay for some of his vet bills to get him to that point. She interviewed me. She interviewed my family. She interviewed my friends. I had to give a couple of references to make sure that we were going to make sure that that dog was looked after, and I’m okay with that.

Bruce has a good life. He has his issues, and he eats everything in sight, but we still love him. They knew he was going to a good home. Now, maybe I come home a little late, as we all do, especially now that the Gardiner is under construction. It takes that extra half an hour to get home, so it’s an hour-and-a-half drive. Thank you, city of Toronto. But when we are purchasing our animals, as I said, we have to make sure that we go through the proper process, because if we don’t, you’ve got to watch for that breeder. I think this legislation is going to make that difference.

There are over 7.9 million dogs in Canada, and that number is growing. I’m sure none of us walk down the street in our communities and we don’t see another pet, another dog on a leash. That number is growing, especially through COVID. During COVID, we saw a lot of people purchase animals. The sad thing with COVID was people purchased animals, and then they went back to work, and they realized, “Hmm, maybe I don’t have the time for an animal.” That was sad. You see a lot of these COVID animals back in humane societies. Before you purchase an animal, maybe you want to stop by your local humane society to see who they have that can add joy to your family.

We are very lucky in Canada to have so many people who serve in the best interests of our animals, including our veterinarians. I have an amazing veterinarian. I probably go there far too often, including on Christmas Eve when my dog decided to open all the presents, including all the chocolate, and have a little feast. They tend to do that in the evenings on Christmas Eve, so I was at the emergency vet all Christmas Eve with a nice bill to end the year with. So thank you to our veterinarians, especially our emergency vets, our humane societies, our dog walkers, our pet sitters and just those who love our animals and go out to rescue those animals who are in need or trying to find their forever homes.

I know in my riding of Etobicoke–Lakeshore, we have the Etobicoke Humane Society. I want to give them a shout-out and thank them and their volunteers for the tremendous work they do. I know that they have a lot of cats. I visited them about three weeks ago to say hello and just to see how they were doing, and there were a lot of cats. So if you’re looking for a cat, you can check the humane society, but make sure if you want an animal, it is their forever home, and please do not declaw those cats.

I’m trying to get all my speeches out in one speech, all my animal advocacy work that I want to see happen.

Our volunteers, they do tremendous work in helping animals transition from the streets and out of bad situations. They rehabilitate and they work to find suitable forever homes for our furry friends. These organizations usually operate entirely on donations and their fundraising efforts, and I would like to encourage anyone in this House to find more information on their website to see how they can help their causes. We all have humane societies in our community, and they do amazing work.

As much as there are good causes and organizations in Ontario helping animals, there’s also the reality that there are still people and systems out there that take advantage of and exploit animals, and that’s really what we’re talking about today: To fight that exploitation and put an end to unjust practices that are forced upon our vulnerable pets.

Puppy mills: What is a puppy mill? We’ve all heard about them. They’re commercial breeding facilities that mass-produce dogs for the sole purpose of profiteering. They breed puppies as fast as they can without the proper care, and often the animals are neglected.

Puppies bred in puppy mills are sold through pet stores—not in Toronto, and I want to thank former mayor Rob Ford. He was the one who banned selling puppies in pet stores here in Toronto. That was in 2011. That was our former mayor Rob Ford who did that, so thank you. They’re also sold through classified ads. Now that we’re in the age of technology, you see them online being sold through Kijiji or other forms of sales, and you’ve got to be careful with that, as I mentioned.

I’m going to tell you a little story about my sister’s dog—she has now passed; her name was Billie. She was a bulldog. When Mary adopted Billie, she was a puppy mill dog, so she was rescued from a puppy mill through the bulldog society—I’m not sure the name, but their organization. When she received Billie, she couldn’t use her back two legs because she had never walked, she was in a cage her whole life. She was three, and I don’t know how many—after they turn a certain age, they can’t breed anymore. She couldn’t move. We grew up with pets, we always had pets, and Billie was a great dog, but it was so sad to see her. Eventually, over time, she was able to move around the house and outside, but it took time and it took love and it took care. We can help some of these animals that are in these dire situations have a good life. We shout out to all those people who save these animals and give them a good life after.

The sad part of buying some of these animals online from puppy mills is that you buy them without knowing the condition of where their new family friend—how they were born into the world. Sometimes you’re often told that it was positive conditions or the dog was certainly looked after, they may say they had shots, and then their dog becomes sick because these dogs were confined to overcrowded cages with minimal shelter from extreme weather, and they have no choice but to sleep in their own waste—you see some of these horrible pictures of these matted dogs with their waste around their fur. Some of these animals suffer from malnutrition and starvation due to inadequate and unsanitary food or water. The sick or dying animals receive no veterinary care and the adults are continuously bred until they can no longer produce, and as I said, they are discarded. That’s what they are. They are discarded, as you would discard your leftover sandwich.

That is why we, as a government, must continue—and I have to shout out to the member for Dufferin–Caledon, who was the former Solicitor General, who brought in the PAWS Act, and this Solicitor General who continued on her track of making sure that animal welfare is important and is at the forefront of some things that we do. Thank you to Solicitor General Kerzner for your work and for allowing me to take on some of the files. It was certainly an honour to work with you, my friend.

When we talk about puppy mills, puppies are often taken away from their mothers too early, and they suffer from serious behavioural problems and continue that into their adult life. Mill sites can lead to numerous medical issues for dogs, including diseases and also birth defects, and then also there’s inbreeding.

I’m just looking at my time here. Somebody had suggested in a Star article that there’s over 2,000 puppy mills across Canada, and a majority of those mills are in Ontario and Quebec. Madam Speaker, I know you believe this: That is 2,000 too many. It was suggested in an article that since 2001, the amount of puppy mills has increased because of the use of the Internet in the advertising of sales. It’s money. It’s a way people make a living. And we are going to stop that.

These mills are increasing profits at the expense of the welfare of these animals. We don’t mind people making a profit if they care for these animals, but if you’re not, we don’t want you to be in this business, and the Solicitor General is going to put you out of business.

If the PUPS Act is passed, we will ensure that we have the resources to set standards for breeding dogs in our province to stop these inhumane practices. While the PAWS Act scrapped and revised 100-year-old legislation, the PUPS Act offers to continue that imperative work we started six years ago.

The PAWS Act has already been successful as it has given our government the tools to finally fight against the mistreatment of animals. It came into force on January 1, 2020, enabling Canada’s very first provincial animal welfare enforcement system. The PAWS Act aims to strengthen animal welfare and enable effective and efficient enforcement that is responsive and accountable to the public.

We hear a lot of people asking for some stats about what the PAWS Act has done, and I want to share those stats with you today. Since the PAWS Act came into effect in January 2020, more than 7,600 orders have been made, over 600 charges have been laid and over 5,200 animals have been removed from unsafe conditions. I think that’s excellent work. I actually had the opportunity to meet some of our amazing inspectors when I was touring Aylmer, and I just want to thank those animal inspectors for the work they do. They do it in a compassionate manner. We should shout out to them.

Madam Speaker, thank you for allowing me to have the opportunity to speak on this. Let’s protect our pets and pass this bill unanimously.