Thank you very much.

Interjection.

I thank the member for his comments and the stories about the pups. I mean, one of the comments that has certainly echoed across this chamber today—and I’m not sure who said it earlier—was humans don’t always deserve the love that the animals in our lives have given us. To that end, sir—to the member—I ask the question of, do you agree with the increase and the enforcement of the higher penalties for the abuses mentioned within this bill?

First off, I’d like to say to the member who was speaking about how excited her dog was to come get her, we had a cat for about 18 years that we lost last year. We got a new cat, and I can tell you, undoubtedly, I’ve never received that kind of excitement from a cat. He very efficiently ignores me.

Interjection.

We heard the member speaking about the consultations that have gone on and some of the comments that have come from people like the SPCA and other groups. Could the member please elaborate on how the government intends to continue the consultation on the regulations for the PUPS Act?

I thank the member from Toronto Centre for their comments today. You made the comment that the—I’ve lost it. There was one part of your message that I was thinking about, and I was going to make a quip about it, but unfortunately I’ve lost it at this point.

I can tell you that I’ve received a number of emails specific to this particular piece of legislation. Unanimously they all said, basically, “Hurry up; get it done.” We know that the president of the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has said that the PUPS Act is a welcome and important step towards protecting dogs from unethical breeders and addressing the issue of puppy mills throughout the province.

So does the member agree that we need to move this forward?