It’s a privilege and a pleasure to stand in the House today, as it always is, and address the House, especially on this important Bill 102, Strengthening Safety and Modernizing Justice Act.

The minister mentioned his trip to Sarnia–Lambton about six months ago, actually in June or July of last year—about a year ago now. Anyway, he wanted to come down to Sarnia–Lambton, so I arranged a trip for him. We had a great day in Sarnia–Lambton. Among a number of important things, one of them was, we went out to the St. Clair River and we saw where the actual drone had been caught up in a tree. Some American ne’er-do-wells were smuggling guns across the river with drones and they got caught up in a tree, so they were caught. So, focused on that, the Solicitor General brought that back, and I know I’ve heard him speak about it a number of times. He has included it in legislation that’s still to come, where we’re going to crack down on these people who are doing these things. Most of the crime that’s committed in this country, in this province, is with these illegal guns that are brought in from the States—not just at Sarnia or Sarnia–Lambton, but in other points in Ontario, which I won’t go into at this time.

Ontarians want to feel safe and protected in their communities. As the Solicitor General said—and I want to applaud both the Attorney General and the Solicitor General for introducing this act jointly. Policing is a large piece of that, but it’s not the only piece of this act. The mechanics of other public safety legislation must also be modernized to respond to change and meet public expectations of what a safe and healthy community is all about.

As the Solicitor General noted in his remarks, the primary driver of the proposed Strengthening Safety and Modernizing Justice Act, 2023, is to introduce the legislative amendments necessary to bring the CSPA into force. The government has also prioritized other areas of community safety in this proposed legislation, including better protection for animals, modernizing the Coroners Act to strengthen the death investigation system, and streamlining decision-making in the Fire Protection and Prevention Act to make it more effective and efficient.

I will highlight these amendments.

The Provincial Animal Welfare Services Act, otherwise known as PAWS—really championed by my PA colleague Christine Hogarth, the member for Etobicoke–Lakeshore—would improve recovery for costs incurred to provide care for animals in distress that have been removed by the animal welfare services; clarify Animal Care Review Board processes; and narrow the gaps related to animal welfare inspector authorities and strengthen those protections for animals. I will highlight a few of those amendments. Animal owners or custodians are issued a statement of account when animals are removed by animal welfare services and cost of care for the animal are incurred. The proposed amendments include providing greater specificity on the types of costs incurred by animal welfare services that are recoverable through a statement of account.

An additional proposed amendment would permit the immediate removal of an animal by an animal welfare inspector if it is in critical distress. This would address a gap in the current legislation to allow animals in need of immediate intervention to prevent serious injury or death to be removed immediately from an owner’s or custodian’s care.

Another proposed amendment would create a requirement for owners and custodians to inform animal welfare services when ownership or custodianship of an animal changes in cases where there is already a compliance order outstanding. This will help ensure that animal welfare issues have been addressed.

The ministry has consulted with a few key stakeholders on these proposed amendments. The other key stakeholders and the public had the opportunity to comment on the proposals through the Ontario Regulatory Registry.

The Coroners Act: Coroners and pathologists already have the authority under regulation 180 of the Coroners Act to retain and store tissue samples and body fluids obtained during a post-mortem examination undertaken by a pathologist or other examinations undertaken by coroners. The act did not contemplate the retention of materials for purposes beyond the needs of a coroner’s investigation; nor did it anticipate medical advances that could lead to the need to retain tissue samples for other purposes, like DNA testing, in the future.

Madam Speaker, just last night, I was watching a show on CTV about two infamous murders that took place in Toronto. Ms. Susan Tice and another lady, Erin—I can’t remember her last name right now. Those two murders are almost 40 years old, and they used—I think it’s called gen-gen for short. It’s an American program. They can trace ancestors, like great-great-grandfathers and great-great-grandmothers, and bring it forward. They have identified a suspect. So those two families, because of that DNA that was retained at that time, even though they had no idea it could be used in the manner it has been—so think of the advances that are still to come here in this world of the future. Those two families, at least—and maybe more, because I don’t think that individual just killed twice; I’m sure there were a lot more, unfortunately.

This proposed amendment would enable regulations to govern the collection, retention, storage and disposal of tissue samples by the Office of the Chief Coroner and the Ontario Forensic Pathology Service for purposes that may go beyond the immediate needs of a coroner’s investigation.

The Fire Protection and Prevention Act, otherwise known as the FPPA, creates the framework for fire protection in Ontario, including municipal responsibilities for fire protection services and cost recovery. Currently, gaps exist within the FPPA’s cost recovery provisions, and these relate to immediate authorizations to close. In addition, language in the current FPPA allows for only one deputy fire marshal when demands of the Office of the Fire Marshal call for multiple deputies. This proposed amendment, if passed, would support municipal and provincial cost recovery along with the appointment of multiple deputy fire marshals, and support efficient tribunal operations. Specifically, a proposed amendment would close gaps in the FPPA’s cost recovery provisions by allowing municipalities and the province to use property liens and the Provincial Land Tax Act, 2006, respectively, in order to recover costs in immediate authorization to close cases. The amendments would also allow the Fire Safety Commission, the FSC, to consider whether costs were associated with the immediate authorization-to-close-related actions when considering those appeals to orders to pay costs.

A second proposed amendment would allow for more than one deputy fire marshal so that the duties of the fire marshal can continue to be executed when the fire marshal and another deputy fire marshal are unavailable.

In addition, a third proposed amendment would strengthen the efficiencies of the Fire Safety Commission. This is an independent quasi-judicial agency that resolves disputes and conducts hearings regarding fire safety matters, including orders made by inspectors or the fire marshal for repairs, alterations or installations to a building, structure or premises. The proposed amendment would strengthen those designations and extend the time to appeal an order beyond the current 30-day period due to exceptional circumstances and eliminate the three-member quorum requirement so that appeals before the commission can be heard by a single member.

Madam Speaker, the Solicitor General, in his remarks, spoke about his extensive tours around the province of Ontario. I also had the opportunity either to accompany the minister and/or on my own—and I toured a number—anywhere from Stratford to Goderich; to Chatham; LaSalle; Essex; Stratford; and down to Aylmer, to the police college. I’ve seen a couple of the graduations there, and as the minister said, you see the impetus and the integrity and the opportunity on some of those young faces—and some middle-aged faces, as well, who chose to join the force in later life. And I know there will be a tribute—our friend from Chatham-Kent-Essex can speak to that. I know, as well, he attended a number of those years ago.

Also in my travels, I had the opportunity just recently to meet the new deputy chief in Sarnia–Lambton, the city of Sarnia, Deputy Chief Julie Craddock. She’s the first woman deputy chief in Sarnia police history. It’s a long time coming. I know she’s going to do a great job. She’s originally from the Halton force, so she’s got some great ideas that she has brought to the city of Sarnia. We also have a new chief—about two years in the running now—Chief Derek Davis. I know that team is going to make a great impact on the city of Sarnia and on that force. I had a chance the other day to talk with Deputy Chief Craddock about a number of ideas she’s got, which I’ve had a chance to discuss in further detail with the Solicitor General. She has some great ideas that she has brought from Halton. She has been on a number of courses. She has had the advantage of a larger force—to be able to tour and work on her degree, MBA etc. I know she’s going to be a great role model for a lot of young women in the city of Sarnia and the county of Lambton in that force.

In the meantime, I also had the chance to go to Chatham. I met the chief in Chatham—also in LaSalle, the OPP detachment, and the Essex one as well. These opportunities to go around the province are a great opportunity to go out and meet the people who are actually doing the work on the ground every day.

In some places, I had a chance to meet with some of the police service board members, as well, and we also took in some fire halls when we were doing that tour. The city of Sarnia—of course, I know those fire halls; I’ve spent a lot of time there. In Stratford, I got a chance to go up in the bucket, the truck—not too high. The firemen are very proud of the work that they do each and every day to keep our people safe in this province.

EMS drivers—I had a great chance to interact with EMS operators and the work that they do. I have a couple of neighbours just around the corner from back home in Petrolia who are EMS operators and work every day to keep people safe in our county, as well.

I know a lot of the OPP officers back home. I want to give a shout-out, as the member from Etobicoke–Lakeshore did to her force. I also have—well, I’ve talked about the city force with Chief Derek Davis and Deputy Chief Craddock, but also out in Lambton at the Petrolia detachment, Inspector Chris Avery—actually, I knew his father; we go back a long ways. Inspector Avery is doing a great job. He’s got a detachment of over 100 officers. The Solicitor General had an opportunity to travel there when we were down a year ago—about a year ago now, in June, we toured the Petrolia detachment.

Inspector Avery is doing a great job. He has been working on a case—talking about cold cases: It goes back to 1971 or 1972, when a young lady unfortunately came to a sad end, and her body was found out in the county on a side road. I remember it very well. It has been so long, that case. Inspector Avery told the Solicitor General, “I intend to solve that case before I retire. We feel we know who did it. We just don’t have enough”—maybe through some of these DNA friends, these new ideas for DNA, maybe that will be solved. That family—unfortunately, the mother and father are gone. But the sisters and brothers of that young lady are still alive; they keep her memory alive each and every day back in Lambton.

So those advances in DNA and these opportunities that we have in this bill, if this bill is passed, will help those families in the future. Unfortunately, there are still going to be those kinds of cases, as we go forward, but if and when they do happen, we’ll know that we have the proper events here, legislation, to help in that. I think I’ve pretty well summed her up here.

I want to go on to talk about protecting animals in distress. I would really defer that to PA Hogarth, the member from Etobicoke–Lakeshore; I know this is her specialty.

Speaker, protecting animals in distress, leveraging emerging science to improve the death investigation system, and improving the administrative essentials of fire safety and fire prevention are critical components of Ontario’s public safety framework. Taken together, the proposed amendments in Bill 102 are the basis to drive forward modernization of community safety, make operational improvements where needed, and continue to be responsive to the safety concerns of a broad range of stakeholders.

I know when they go to that famous AMO—Association of Municipalities of Ontario—the minister and the two PAs as well the as the Attorney General meet with a number of people from all across Ontario. They come to AMO. They want to talk about their concerns, their issues—it’s everywhere from Red Lake down to the Halton region, to some of the smaller communities like Petrolia, Sarnia, London. They all bring their concerns to AMO, and the minister has an opportunity at that time to ask a lot of questions—and he asks lots of questions—about what could be made better. What do they need in the way of funding? What do they need in the way of program changes that could improve that? So I’m looking forward to AMO. I think AMO is in London this year. I’m sure the minister is going to be there, as he likes to say, with bells on. He’ll be there, and we’ll be meeting with people again. I’m sure the member from Kitchener-Waterloo is going to be there. She’s shaking her head yes, she’s going to be there. Maybe she’ll come and meet with us, with some people.

As the minister said, it has been a great honour to serve as the PA to the Solicitor General. I’ve had the opportunity to meet a number of people, and like the minister said, we have some great staff you never see in the offices, both over at 18 Grosvenor and with the OPP and with the coroner, Dr. Huyer. The work that he does and his staff, and the minister’s backroom staff—they do a lot of the work that you never see. They help draft a lot of the speeches and the research that we have here in the House. We get to answer all those great questions from the opposition and the third party. It has been a great experience here working with the minister. He keeps us hopping, and PA Hogarth keeps us on our toes, keeps us challenged each and every day.

With that, Madam Speaker, I think I’ll relinquish the floor and we’ll move on.