It’s a pleasure to rise in the House today to continue our discussion on the importance of enhancing professional care for animals. I’m very pleased to be sharing my time today with my two amazing parliamentary assistants, the members from Essex and from Lanark–Frontenac–Kingston.

Before I begin, I also would like to give a shout-out to both MPP Flack from Elgin–Middlesex–London as well as MPP Jones from Chatham-Kent–Leamington, because they too have played an important role in shepherding this important piece of legislation through to where we are today.

Back to the MPPs from Essex and Lanark–Frontenac–Kingston, though: They’ve just recently begun their roles as parliamentary assistants in the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and I want to say thank you. Thank you for jumping in with both feet and supporting not only this important piece of proposed legislation, but for jumping in and embracing the amazing work that gets done at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

I also want to go back to the MPP from Elgin–Middlesex–London. In his role as parliamentary assistant for the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, he actually facilitated consultations on this particular proposed piece of legislation across the province. We all know that agriculture and food is very important to him, as well. I appreciate all the effort that went into it.

To the members of the Standing Committee on the Interior and everyone who presented at the committee and/or submitted written submissions as well, I’d like to thank everyone’s efforts. I appreciate that I’m hearing that there’s going to be unanimous support for this. We’ll see when the vote happens, but I can tell you with certainty that we took the time to listen, to understand and, most importantly, to work with our stakeholders to ensure we get it right.

The Veterinarians Act needed to be reviewed, because it was first introduced in 1989. It has served Ontario animals and animal owners very, very well over the past 35 years, but it’s 2024, and it’s time we take a look at modernizing and making sure that we are enabling access across this province to professional care that pet owners and farmers alike deserve and need.

In 1989, it was Jack Riddell who introduced the Veterinarians Act. At the time, Jack represented Huron–Middlesex. Huron, as you know, is very important to me. I think it is somewhat surreal but an absolute honour to continue to build on something that a farmer from Huron county put his heart into, to continue on today to make sure that his legacy lives on through the initial piece of legislation. I take this opportunity to bring it forward into 2024 and beyond in order to make sure that we have a modernized system that enables professional care for animals.

In the years since the act was first updated, the practice of veterinary medicine has evolved significantly, transforming the way that animals are cared for in Ontario. As discussed during second reading and at the standing committee, veterinary care is increasingly provided by a team of qualified professionals. This proposed legislation reflects that the reality of one profession of veterinary medicine comprised of two professionals, veterinarians and veterinary technicians, has to be recognized. Registered veterinary technicians have specialized education, training and experience in animal care and are vital in terms of that team approach to care in many veterinary settings.

Again, we know we have a shortage of veterinarians in northern Ontario, rural Ontario and remote areas across this province, and vet techs are ready to step up and say, “We’ve got the expertise. We’ve got the training.”

I know our veterinarians will embrace their approach as well, because again, one team, two professionals—it really makes sense today, in 2024, across the province of Ontario.

The current legislative framework, though, under the Veterinarians Act does not formally recognize the role of veterinary technicians. Do you know what? They have a very important role to play in animal care. By formally recognizing the role of veterinary technicians, we are expecting to enhance access to veterinary care and strengthen the animal care system in Ontario. By recognizing their complete scope of practice, it is our intent that this will result in more vet techs providing more treatments and services that they are trained to do and have the expertise to do, as well.

I know that RVTs, registered vet techs, and vet tech students are excited about having their role and training formally recognized.

Shortly before this bill was introduced, I really appreciated the opportunity to attend the AGM of the Ontario Association of Veterinary Technicians. While I couldn’t necessarily tell the registered vet techs in attendance that this bill was imminent, let me tell you, they knew and appreciated that we had been consulting on updating the Veterinarians Act. There were 1,200 people very excited about the future of their field of expertise.

Let’s take a moment, let’s pause and let’s go back to revisit how we got here today. Access to veterinary care has long been a challenge, especially in rural and northern Ontario. The College of Veterinarians of Ontario, the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association, and the Ontario Association of Veterinary Technicians have been working together to advocate for changes to the Veterinarians Act for more than a decade. For more than a decade, they’ve been asking for this modernization, and I’m so proud to say it’s under the leadership of Premier Ford and our government that we’re getting the job done.

We knew the act was out of date, and we wanted to make sure any changes we proposed would help all animal owners, their animals, and our farmers. Husbandry is very important when you think about the priorities on-farm. In order to do that, though, we asked veterinarians, vet technicians, animal owners and farmers alike, animal welfare groups and others for their input. We took time, as I mentioned earlier, to listen to their concerns, their suggestions and their desires to see this particular act modernized.

In November 2022, my ministry launched a dedicated web page where the public was to submit ideas on how to modernize the Veterinarians Act.

Then, on March 1, 2023, we published a discussion paper and a proposal on the Regulatory Registry. My ministry also ran webinars where interested people could learn more about the proposal, ask questions and make comments. Through these consultations, we received more than 300 submissions. I was very impressed by that, and I thank everyone who took time to put pen to paper.

In order to make sure we heard from Ontarians from different parts of the province, the Associate Minister of Housing, Rob Flack, hosted seven round-table discussions.

Throughout these consultations, the majority of people told us they supported the proposed modernization of the Veterinarians Act. As a result of those consultations and taking into consideration more than 300 submissions, on March 7 of this year, I had the privilege of introducing this particular bill, Bill 171, an act to enact the enhanced professional care for animals act.

I want to thank all the members of this House for their support of this bill on second reading; in fact, Speaker, I was really over the moon, to be quite honest, to note that it was unanimous support.

Interjections.

It’s my pleasure to rise today and join two amazing parliamentary assistants who have jumped right in because they understand the importance of Ontario’s agri-food industry, not only throughout the province, but across Canada and North America and around the world.

Before I get really deep into my remarks, I’d be remiss if I didn’t give a shout-out to the amazing member from Chatham-Kent–Leamington as well as the Associate Minister of Housing. I want to share my appreciation and actually give virtual hugs to both of them for the amazing work that they have done, proudly carrying on the responsibilities bestowed to them as parliamentary assistants to agriculture, food and rural affairs.

You’ve done a great job, and I trust that you always will be champions for this industry that I know you love, so thank you so much for all you do.

With that, I also want to recognize that I have two amazing PAs that I have the pleasure of working with now. All I can say is, look out; we’re just going to continue to build on where we left off, and I just can’t wait to continue to demonstrate how we not only understand the agri-food industry in Ontario, but we care. We care enough to listen, to understand and, most importantly, take action where action is needed. And Speaker, I can confidently tell you that we heard loud and clear that, when it comes to the agri-food industry, research and innovation has to be a priority.

With that said, the member from Chatham-Kent–Leamington facilitated and led a number of consultations across the province and people were earnest in their remarks, humbled by the chance to have their voice heard because they trusted it would make a difference. Because adopting new technology and research is absolutely critical to not only maintaining our net exporter position around the world, but we need to make sure that Ontarians understand as well what’s truly needed to ensure that not only primary production on farm continues to prosper and thrive, but our related industries throughout the value chain also continue to thrive and be prosperous.

Through this proposed modernization of legislation, we also are marrying what we heard through consultation when we landed the Grow Ontario Strategy. Grow Ontario is a first. It was an initiative that, again, had robust consultation and in partnership with the industry, we identified three key priority areas that everyone collectively said, “If we’re going to continue to lead by example, we’re going to continue to increase production around this province and we’re going to continue to be a net exporter of food, we need to make sure we have three key pillars.”

First and foremost, one pillar is all about making sure that we have a secure and stable supply chain. A second pillar is making sure we attract the very best talent. The third pillar is all about making sure that we create a climate that enables every single player in our industry to have the ability and the capacity to embrace new technologies and new innovations. That’s why we’re proposing to amend the ARIO Act through Bill 155, if it’s supported.

It’s interesting. This particular piece of legislation came together in 1962 and, quite frankly, it hasn’t been looked at for 60 years. I would dare anyone in this House today to say that it doesn’t need to be modernized, because the fact of the matter is, farming today is very different from farming yesterday and, as we look ahead to tomorrow, we need to make sure we’ve got our cornerstones set so we can continue to grow and continue to build. The fact of the matter is, these updates better reflect the current and future needs that we have and the legislation, if, again, passed as proposed and presented, will serve to meet the industry’s needs today and for years to come.

This is where I’d like to pause for a moment and give a shout-out to the board and the people who invest their time, give their time to advise and lead priorities for ARIO. In particular, I want to give a shout-out to Lorne Hepworth, chair of the Agricultural Research Institute of Ontario, as it’s known today. Lorne has a vast foundation in agriculture and his experience and his passion have led him to so many opportunities to make a difference, not only in Ontario but in his home province and across Canada. I was never more happy for him than when, earlier this year, I learned that he will be recognized for his passion, for his leadership, by receiving the Order of Canada. That’s huge, and I’d like everyone to join me in congratulating him for that.

Again, we have a wonderful breadth of experience around that board table. They understand where we need to go and how we need to update. And so the proposed updates that we’ve suggested to go into this legislation will support innovative activities, commercialization—which is so, so important—new solutions, new relationships and, most importantly, always looking to how our farmers, and our food and beverage industries in this province can continue to increase productivity so that we can continue to compete globally.

We have to do everything we can in this province, quite frankly, Speaker, because at the federal level, they’re doing nothing but handcuffing our farmers and our processing manufacturing industry due to the carbon tax. It’s just a tax on top of a tax. Actually, that’s one thing that hasn’t been talked about in this House much. If you were to look at the propane bills that we receive on a monthly basis—

Interjections.