Of course, a great member, an OPP officer. I’ve got so much respect. Thank you for your service.

And, of course, the Minister of Agriculture: We heard her speak today for 60 minutes, and she covers it all. She has done it all. She understands the file so much better than someone like myself.

But what I get excited about is when you see the results of those processes. Those meetings that were held—I don’t have the list in front of me, but you heard from Minister Flack and Minister Thompson. You’ve heard from them where all those consultations were. I was part of the one in Pembroke, and let me tell you, folks: Everybody here, I’m sure that your grandmother said at some time that you learn something new every day, and if you don’t, well, you’ve been sleeping or something. But I can’t tell you how much I learned at that meeting about veterinary medicine, but not only the medicine itself; the problems that are out there: not enough veterinarians.

Our farmland is more productive than it has ever been. We produced more on our farmland today than we ever have. We’re an exporting province in agricultural products, even after we’re feeding our 15-million-people population. Because of technology, we’re more productive, but that means we can raise more livestock. It also means we need to be able to take care of those livestock.

When you look at rural Ontario—and I want to thank the member for Timiskaming–Cochrane, because he can paint a picture pretty well about what it’s like in northern Ontario, because that’s his canvas. He knows it. The challenge of getting a veterinarian to the place of where he or she is needed when you’ve got miles and miles between them and the farm is a daunting task.

So how do you address that? Well, one of the things you do is you graduate more veterinarians. So 20 additional seats between Thunder Bay and Guelph means we’re going to have more veterinarians able to service those farms. “Winner, winner, chicken dinner,” as they say. You can’t go wrong with that one. Now, on top of that—and I’m just touching the surface of this bill; I could speak for a week if I actually knew more about it.

But what about $50,000 over five years to assist a new veterinarian who’s willing to work and serve a rural or remote area? How is that going to help the member for Timiskaming–Cochrane and anybody else that has an expanse in the rural areas? Do you know how you make those decisions? You come to the conclusions from listening to people. Oh, I’m so excited about this, because of the work that’s been done to get to where we are today.

Now, that’s not all. That’s not all—

Veterinary technicians are the livestock-animal answer to the nurse practitioner. So we’re going to increase and broaden the scope of practice for veterinary technicians. Again, you want to talk about getting it right? There’s no such thing as getting it more than 100% right, but if they ever invent that, here’s something that does get it that way, because that’s exactly what we need: more people who can deliver the service to the farms. And we’re not just talking about large animals here—for the farms, it’s large animals mainly—but also pets and small animals as well. Because we have a shortage of vets in every sector.

So I want to just thank everyone who’s been so involved and active in this, and I did want to just comment on one thing from the member for Oshawa, as she was talking about animal abuse. I’ve always believed that anybody who will abuse an animal, you can count on that person as being someone who will abuse another human being as well. There is no excuse. It can never be acceptable, and it needs to be dealt with in the harshest ways possible. Do we agree 100% on that?

So as I said, Speaker, and I didn’t even get to all of the copious notes that I put down here, but I want to thank everybody who’s been so involved in this. It’s a great piece of legislation. I look forward to the further debate, and I thank the opposition for stating clearly right from the start that they’re going to support this bill.

As everyone knows, June is Seniors Month. It’s our annual opportunity to dedicate a month to that group of citizens that has reached a point in life where they can look back with a sense of pride on the many things they have accomplished.

But let’s be clear: The seniors of today aren’t just looking back; they’re looking forward. Our seniors, particularly those who still enjoy good health, are more active than any of the previous generations. Seniors are not sitting back with their feet up; they’re continuously engaging in and around their community, in ways that not only benefit themselves socially, but also provide benefits to their community.

I know when I do voluntary service awards every year, the majority of those receiving those awards are in fact seniors who, after contributing so much through their working lives, continue to be the driving forces in so many of our institutions, organizations and service clubs. I dare say that most of the service clubs that exist in our community could not operate or contribute the way they do without the involvement of our seniors.

I encourage everyone to visit one of the Seniors Active Living Centres in their ridings in the month of June and see what amazing things are taking place there to ensure that our seniors continue to be vital and engaged. In the month of June, as summer approaches, be sure not to just honour our seniors for what they have done for us, but celebrate them and celebrate with them, and be grateful for the gift that they are.