What a great day in Ontario. I think I speak for all of us in this House when I say we all care about what happens to animals. None of us—it doesn’t matter what political stripe we are—want to see any animal harmed, mistreated, unfed, unwatered, uncared for. This is something that hits us all in our heart, and I want to thank the Solicitor General for making sure this bill came forward. I want to thank the House leader for ensuring that we are having third reading and debate on it. I want to thank the new parliamentary assistant for his work on this bill.

This goes back to when I first was elected in 2018. This was one of my passions, to bring forward an end to animal cruelty in the province of Ontario and of course our amazing country we live in. I did bring forward a private member’s bill, which was passed unanimously by the House at the time, to end puppy mills, to stop them. We all have reasons for running and this was one of the reasons that I wanted to run: to do better.

Growing up in a house with rescued pets—my mom volunteered at the humane society, as did my sister, when I was in school. We’ve always had rescue dogs in our house—oh, my goodness, we could name them all, but there’s numerous of them right now. We have all heard about my pets, Bruce and Edward. Edward is a cat that was found in a backyard, so a feral cat. She hasn’t destroyed too many things, just one stair, but we still love her. And my dog, who has many, many issues—he was given up just because he just had so many medical issues, like allergies. He is at home today, desperately needing a haircut, so when we rise, guess who gets the haircut first? That would be Bruce. He won’t be happy about that. I can’t actually give him a bath myself; he likes to bite my hands, because I’m his mom, not the master. I have to learn how to be the master, but I’m the mom of the house. We certainly love our pets, and I think that goes, as I said, for everybody here.

I’m certainly, certainly proud to be part of this government and part of this Parliament that is going to, hopefully, vote in favour of this bill, the Preventing Unethical Puppy Sales Act. I know there’s many advocates out there who we’ve talked with over the years who have been—and I’m sure they came to committee. I don’t sit on the justice committee, but I’m sure many of them came to the justice committee to share their stories. I want to say thank you to all those people who rescue animals. They spend their money. They spend their time trying to house animals, not just in our own province, our own communities, but across the world. People rescue animals and try to find them their forever home.

And that’s just a reminder, if you’re ever looking for a pet: Make sure it is their forever home, that it’s not just a, “I think, this summer, the kids need a dog.” Well, that’s not the right reason to get a pet. You have to make sure you want to have that. It’s a lifelong commitment and we want to make sure those pets, when you get them, are safe. We want to make sure they were treated well. We want to make sure that they are disease-free, and that’s why it’s important to end puppy mills.

Many of these dogs in puppy mills, as we’ve heard, they’re matted. They do not have a life of their own. They are caged. They’re very matted. Sometimes they don’t get proper food and water—nutrition. They don’t get the love, and that’s what makes a really good pet, that love and that companionship—sociability. And you certainly don’t want to pick up a pet that may not last, because it’s terrible for the pet, but it’s also terrible for the families to have to go through something like that. So ending puppy mills will stop some of these horrible situations from happening.

One thing we’re really proud of is our hotline that we put forward when I was working with Minister Jones as Solicitor General through our PUPS Act. It’s the animal cruelty line. High fines—the highest in Canada. I was very proud of that: the highest in Canada for animal cruelty in our province. And if you ever see an animal in distress, please call the line. It’s 1-833-9-ANIMAL, which is 1-833-9-ANIMAL. We have an icon that we put on our social media, and maybe my staff, if they’re listening, can add that to my social feeds today.

Also, this summer, make sure that we don’t leave our pets in the car. Sometimes, you say, “I’m just running in to get groceries,” “I’m just running in to pick up the kids,” or there’s a baseball tournament or a soccer tournament. Don’t leave your pets in the car when you’re grocery shopping; it’s really hard on them. Just like you wouldn’t leave your kids in the car—but sometimes people need to be reminded of that, which is fairly sad. But don’t leave animals or children in hot vehicles, because it’s against the law. It’s against the law and it’s actually a really terrible act.

Once this legislation is passed, Ontario would become the first jurisdiction in Canada to explicitly include the term “puppy mill” into law. When I first looked at my private member’s bill, you couldn’t see the term “puppy mill” anywhere. It meant different things in different places. I checked in the States, what they had. We have backyard breeders, but the puppy mill was never a defined term, so this legislation is actually going to define it and make it a law. That’s a huge step forward. Because we talk about it, but just because we talk about it, it doesn’t mean it’s actually a law. So this is great.

As I mentioned, I was passionate about animals and the work that we’re doing in the Solicitor General’s office. We have heard horror stories. I know the parliamentary assistant mentioned some stories. I was in committee this morning, so I didn’t hear the minister’s full speech; I just saw him on TV while we were debating in committee. But there are some horror stories—we all know them and we’ve all heard about them—about the treatment of animals in precarious positions.

I think I’ve told the story about my sister’s dog Billie. When my sister—it was a rescue for bulldogs. My sister has a bunch of bulldogs. One is crazy; the other two are pretty good. When she first got Billie, she couldn’t walk on her back legs, because all she had done her whole life was give birth—small cage. She couldn’t walk on her back legs. She recently passed away, just a couple of months ago. She had a good life after, but her start to life was pretty sad. All she did was give birth. As soon as she gave birth, she gave birth again. That dog didn’t get to walk around, didn’t get to feel the grass, had a dirty cage. I’m not sure if she was fed or watered, certainly not loved—but got a lot of love after. But we don’t want to see these types of things happening in society because we can do better in how we think of animals. They’re part of our family now. We need to do better, and I’m very happy that today, we are going to do better with the support of, I’m sure, everybody in this House. I shouldn’t be presumptuous, but I know everybody here has been supportive in the past of helping out animals and telling the stories of their own pets and the work that they do to make sure that their pets are looked after.

We talked about the cruelty inside some of these barns. We heard about malnutrition and starvation. We talked about puppy profiteering. That’s another thing when you’re looking at purchasing a pet: Make sure that the breeder interviews you. Usually, very good breeders ask you to come in and have an interview. Sometimes, they check references.

When I took over ownership of Bruce, I applied. It was actually a friend who found him at a rescue, and we had to apply, even though she knew me very well—talk to my vet, talk to my friends, talk to a couple of people just to see if we would be good puppy parents—he wasn’t really a puppy; he was four—because they want to make sure these animals get forever homes.

For anybody out there who’s looking for a pet, if you’re meeting in a parking lot and you found it online, just be careful, just be cautious. Think of where that pet came from. There are excellent breeders out there, and they do a very good job of making sure that the animals are healthy, they’re vaccinated, they’re cared for.

Once you take ownership of an animal, it is your responsibility to look after that pet, just like you would a kid. You have to make sure that they’re fed, they’re watered, they’re looked after, and they’re loved because I’ll tell you, they’ll love you back even more. The best thing I ever did was get my dog—and I inherited a cat, but that’s because my sister moved into a house and there was a family of cats. I was allergic to cats, and she said, “Take a cat,” and I said, “Oh, I can’t take a cat.” Anyway, I ended up with this cat. I thought it was a boy and got everything ready for this allergy. I knew my allergies were going to go crazy. Then, I get this cat, and it’s a girl. Well, the name stuck, so Edward is a cat, and it’s a girl, and she doesn’t care what her name is. She doesn’t know, but she runs the house right now.

They are great family assets, so let’s pass this bill today. Let’s protect our pets and give them their forever home.

Thank you to the member for the question. Actually, there was a member from across the way, from Timiskaming–Cochrane, that gave a list of all the new responsibilities that vet techs will be able to take on. This is really important that we’re not just relying on the veterinarian—it’s two professionals in each office or more. So we’re getting more work out of the people who are already there and who already have gone to school. They care for these animals; they love the profession. You’re not going to get into veterinary care if you don’t love those animals. That’s just part of what you do, maybe kind of like us. We wouldn’t be in this job if we didn’t love what we do, so there’s that.

But we’re also opening up 20 new seats in northern Ontario, where we’re bringing—just like when Mike Harris brought in the medical school in northern Ontario, we brought that school in so doctors would stay. We’re bringing a veterinarian school there so those vets will stay in that community—so more seats and more work for those who are already in the field.

It’s my pleasure to rise in the House today to join the debate on Bill 171 and the importance of enhancing professional care for animals.

Speaker, our government, under the leadership of Premier Ford, is committed towards developing a modern and robust animal welfare ecosystem with laws that keep our animals safe and their owners reassured. The proposed Enhancing Professional Care for Animals Act is part of a series of steps we’ve taken and will continue to take in this direction.

Just last month, I had the pleasure to join the debate on Bill 159, Preventing Unethical Puppy Sales Act, which was brought forward to stop harmful dog-breeding practices and impose stringent penalties on violators. The PUPS Act addressed an important policy issue spotlighted in my very first private member’s bill here in the House, called Protecting Our Pets Act.

And today, this House is taking decisive action towards updating the legislative framework that governs veterinary services in this province. The changes we are debating are much-needed to increase access to veterinary care in Ontario, but most importantly, they answer the requests that veterinary professionals and animal owners have been bringing forward for years. We have arrived here after a long journey involving multiple and meticulous discussions with stakeholders across the province. I’m proud that our government has put our shoulders to the wheel in this process.

Exactly a year ago, in May 2023, I was happy to host a round table with vets in Etobicoke–Lakeshore, with my colleague Rob Flack, who is now the Associate Minister of Housing. Then, he was the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. He was there to help lead the consultations, along with my colleague from Eglinton–Lawrence. The discussions we held on modernizing the Veterinarians Act have allowed us to stand here with a better understanding of how to strengthen the tools needed by veterinary professionals to do a better job.

Before I move further, I just want to take this opportunity to recognize those stakeholders and partners from my community of Etobicoke–Lakeshore who joined me that day in May 2023. I want to thank them for their work in providing care for our animal companions. I want to acknowledge the tireless animal welfare advocates, such as the Etobicoke Humane Society, Toronto Kitten Rescue, TinyPurring.

And I’ll give a shout-out to Dr. Spence and Dr. Hume from the Islington animal clinic, who see myself and my pets far too often. But that’s the nature of being a pet owner. We are there, and they’re always there to help—just having those conversations with them.

There is always more we can do, and I think this bill is the right step in the right direction.

Speaker, it’s 2024, and we cannot bank on a law first introduced in 1989 to protect the best interests of our pets and pet owners in this province. The Veterinarians Act needed a 2024 reboot. And that’s exactly what we’re doing here. We proposed a law that aims to strengthen governance, transparency and oversight of veterinary care in Ontario.

The Veterinarians Act does not formally recognize the role of veterinary technicians—and a shout-out to all those great vet techs out there. You do an amazing job. You calm the animals down when we bring them in. Sometimes you get to give them a treat. You weigh them. You do a lot of hard work, and I just want to say thank you for all the hard work you do. I know we’re going to give you some more work to do in the future. So congratulations for the work you do right now.

This year, the Toronto Humane Society published a study on accessing veterinary care—it’s over a 13-year period—that speaks out about the relative shortages of vets across Canada. So it’s not just an Ontario problem. Our government is aware of the shortage of vets in parts of the province, particularly in rural Ontario.

Our response, through this bill, is to recognize that vet techs are ready to step up and share the burden. It’s time, as Minister Thompson put it, to switch to a “one team, two professionals” approach to deliver animal care that is relevant to the times that we live in.

Speaker, everyone has heard me mention my two pets at home, Bruce and Edward. I have, as I mentioned, an amazing veterinarian. Actually, I have a team of veterinarians, because Bruce has a ton of problems. Sometimes, it takes a village, I say, to raise these problem animals. He has allergies; he’s allergic to absolutely everything. He was a rescue dog, so we tried to figure out what was wrong with him. Special food, special diet—this works, this doesn’t work. Vet bills go up, vet bills go up, but my goodness, do we love that little boy to death, I’ll tell you.

Though this morning, he bit me because I was trying to cut his hair, and it didn’t quite work. He won that battle this morning. So, I took some gel and I slicked it back, because that was the battle I was going to take on.

I am extremely proud that it was our government that implemented what is now recognized as the most comprehensive animal welfare legislation anywhere across Canada. If you see an animal in distress, you call the number 1-833-9-ANIMAL. We have inspectors; the minister saw some of the inspectors—37 of them—being trained. We’re very proud of our inspectors and the work they do.

Once again, if you see an animal in distress, please call 1-833-9-ANIMAL.

One of the important things in this bill is that we talk about the increased fines for those, if you are abusing an animal—and also make sure that we know who is going to pay for what.

One thing I’m extremely proud of is that we have one of the strongest penalties in animal welfare legislation of any Canadian province. Bill 102 will go even further by improving the existing legislation to help enhance the inspection powers.

As I mentioned earlier, the minister saw some of these inspectors getting trained. We want to continue to make sure we have the best robust force and make sure that they understand what animals they are looking for—because it may not just be a dog or a cat; it could be a cow or it could be a pig. There are lots of animals out there, and we want to make sure that they are trained for all.

As we know, later on today we’ll be debating something similar about missing and vulnerable people, who are extremely important to this government. We believe all people deserve to be safe in their homes and in their communities. We do have vulnerable people out there, seniors and young people.

Right now, we have an Amber Alert program for missing young people. Certain criteria are sent into the police and an alarm goes off. We’ve all received the Amber Alert.

We are certainly looking at your bill, Bill 74, and that’s something that we’re going to bring to committee to discuss. But I also look forward to the MPP from Sarnia–Lambton’s debate this evening.

But the other piece is removal of animals. We heard this from numerous stakeholders out there. Lynn, if you’re watching, we’ve heard you, and Donna as well. We hear all the time that there was a loophole that didn’t allow people to take animals away in dangerous situations. We want to make sure that our animals feel safe and are safe. If you see an animal in distress, the first thing you should do is call the PAWS hotline, making sure that an inspector goes out to deal with the situation immediately.