I want to thank the minister and the parliamentary assistant for bringing forth this legislation. It is extremely necessary and going to be a real game-changer in our agricultural sector. I want to thank you for having the consultations in Pembrooke as well. They were well attended and very, very helpful and informative.

I know there are number of things there that are real game-changers: the additional seats at the universities, the $50,000 allowance to encourage more veterinarians in rural and remote areas, but I want to focus more on the enhancement and expansion of the authorities of veterinary technicians. I see these as the nurse practitioners in our agricultural field now, where we’re understanding that there just aren’t enough doctors, so to speak, but we can give some additional authority to some other people that can be tremendously helpful.

I would ask the PA if you could expand on just how important and significant this change is going to be and what it’s going to mean to our agricultural sector.

My question is to the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Ontario is fortunate to have a rich and diverse agri-food sector. In my riding, farms and food producers contribute to the strength of this industry. Across the regions of our province, farmers and food producers contribute significantly to Ontario’s GDP.

However, over the past few years, our hard-working and dedicated farmers have experienced challenges and difficult circumstances. To ensure that our food supply system continues to be competitive, our government must maintain its commitment to promote Ontario’s products and support our agri-food sector.

Speaker, can the minister please explain what action our government is taking to ensure that our farm products can be accessed by international markets?

Ontario possesses strong agricultural production capabilities and technologies to enhance competitiveness and strengthen the sector. With more than 200 commodities that contribute over $19 billion in agri-food exports, Ontario’s producers are ready to expand into international markets, like Japan and Vietnam.

Speaker, can the minister please elaborate on how our government promotes Ontario commodities abroad?