I unabashed identify as a pet parent. Unfortunately, I’ve spent far more time in veterinary clinics than any parent would want to.

We have a significant shortage of veterinarians in my area in Ontario and across the province. I know from first-hand experience, and from my friends, that it’s causing significant wait times, problems with emergency clinics, and burnout in our veterinarians. It’s also having an impact on our farmers, who can’t find people to take care of their livestock. I would ask if our Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs could please highlight what our government is doing in order to address this issue.

I’ve spent a lot of time with a lot of our registered veterinary technicians across this province, and I know—again, from experience I wish I hadn’t had—just how valuable they are and how extensive their learning experience is, and what they could do to help veterinary services.

I’d ask if the minister could talk a little bit more about how modernizing the Veterinarians Act could allow our amazing registered veterinary technicians to provide more services and help fill this gap.

I very much appreciate your devotion and the question as well. This is something that people across Ontario are talking about—not just pet owners, but Ontario livestock farmers as well.

I want to be perfectly clear that in terms of access to veterinarian services—this is an issue that’s across the nation, but here in Ontario, we’re taking action.

This past spring, we met with stakeholders from the veterinarian sector, and they identified very clearly that we needed to modernize. The fact of the matter is, the Veterinarians Act in Ontario hasn’t been looked at for over 30 years, but it’s our government that is taking action. We are working with our stakeholders to identify how we need to modernize, given the fact that there are new technologies and the scope of practice for both veterinarians and vet technicians has evolved. We need to get with the times and modernize our legislation in this province as well. It’s part of our Grow Ontario Strategy that we’re going to be moving forward with. I’ll speak more about it in my supplementary.

The member from Elgin–Middlesex–London will be leading these consultations across this province as he goes on tour. We want to hear, first and foremost, how the sector has evolved, how we need to modernize, and how we need to develop legislation in 2022 that creates less red tape and builds a stronger Ontario—because that’s what Bill 46 is all about.

As we look to grow Ontario, we want to make sure that people have their voices heard. We’re looking very much forward to an expansive consultation process that will identify the new scopes of practice that have evolved for vet techs as well as our veterinarians. First and foremost, the important aspect here is that we are engaging everyone in the veterinarian sector to make sure we get it right.