It’s a pleasure to rise today, on behalf of the people I represent in London West, to participate in this debate on Bill 46. Just so people understand the context, this bill is part of a red tape package of measures that the government just introduced, which includes 28 different initiatives; some are legislative, some are more policy-related. Given the limited time I have this morning, I just want to highlight a couple of those measures that are included in the red tape package, and specifically, the ones that are of most concern to the people of London West.

One of the initiatives that the government has announced with this bill is the Grow Ontario Strategy. We heard the Minister of Agriculture talk about the strategy as the province’s plan to build consumer confidence and support farmers and Ontario’s food supply.

I have to say that there are a lot of concerns about what this government is doing, in fact, to undermine Ontario’s food supply and to undermine the ability of farmers to continue to feed the people in this province.

As we know from the committee hearings on Bill 23, Ontario is one of the few jurisdictions that actually is able to produce surplus food so that it can be sent to other jurisdictions to help feed people.

A couple of days ago, we all received a media release from the Ontario Federation of Agriculture showing that more than 50,000 people have signed on to the OFA’s campaign to support farmers and Ontario’s food supply, which they are calling the Home Grown campaign. They are highlighting the fact that every day in this province we are losing 319 acres of farmland. That is equivalent to losing nine family farms every week—and the reason we are losing this is because of the policies that are brought forward by this government. We have seen, over the last five years, a doubling of the rate of farmland loss that is occurring in this province. That is not the way to support farmers and ensure that Ontario has a sustainable food supply.

On the one hand, the government is announcing a Grow Ontario Strategy, but on the other hand, they’re opening up the greenbelt, they’re paving over farmland, they are bulldozing forward with the 413, and all of these initiatives are going to continue to expedite the loss of farmland in this province.

The next feature of this bill that I want to comment on is the commitment to open up the Veterinarians Act. I did want to give a shout-out to Dr. Martha Harding, a London veterinarian who established the East Village Animal Hospital. That East Village Animal Hospital now has locations not just in London, but also in Kitchener and Sudbury and Hamilton. Dr. Harding runs the East Village Animal Hospital as a veterinary service that low-income people can take their pets to to get very low-cost basic veterinarian services. One of the barriers that Dr. Harding has encountered in providing this service is that, currently in Ontario, there is no ability for a veterinary clinic to be registered as a non-profit. There are a lot of people across the province who would like to support veterinary clinics like the East Village Animal Hospital, to provide those low-cost services to people on low income. Everyone should have access to a pet. We know the benefits of pets. We hear of low-income people who have to surrender their pets because they can’t afford the veterinary fees. So I urge the government to look at introducing that non-profit status for veterinary clinics like the East Village Animal Hospital.

I also want to comment on one of the schedules of this bill that temporarily allows retired judges to work longer in the court system. This is in schedule 4. It allows retired former provincial judges serving on a part-time basis to go from 50% of full-time service to 75% of full-time service, but that is only until April 2024, I believe.

In London, we have a crisis in both Small Claims Court and in civil courts. I heard from a labour lawyer in London who uses the Small Claims Court many times to pursue wrongful dismissal cases on behalf of workers in the community. He said, “I have a case where the claim was filed in 2019, a settlement conference was held pre-COVID and, for over two years since, it has been radio silence from the court.”

The Small Claims Courts are simply not able to deal with the huge backlog that has grown, and as a result, people are not getting justice through the Small Claims Court process. I have concerns that schedule 2, allowing retired provincial judges to serve a little bit more time in the courts, is not going to effectively deal with that backlog in our court system—and it’s not just Small Claims Court; it’s also the civil courts.

Earlier this fall, we had a number of prominent lawyers from almost every single major law firm in the city of London write to the Attorney General, Doug Downey, to urge him to take action on the trial backlog in the civil courts in London and southwestern Ontario. They pointed out that the regional senior justice declared in a ruling that trials of over two weeks have no prospect of being heard until late 2024. They gave some examples of the consequences of the backlog in the civil court system. They said, “A business making $50 million a year with dozens of employees failed because the court could not find time to hear a dispute about the ownership and control of the business....

“A small business was lost while a contracted dispute remained unresolved.”

Clearly, dealing with the backlog in the civil court system is something that would—that is red tape reduction that would really help businesses move forward.

These lawyers who sent this letter to the Attorney General have called for a couple of things. They’ve called for two more Superior Court justices to be appointed to the regional court and two more justices to London specifically to deal with civil matters. They also argue in support of a specific earmarked civil legal aid fund. We know that the cuts to legal aid have really had a major impact on people’s ability to pursue justice through the courts.

In the limited time I have left, I want to highlight the irony of this government saying that it is moving forward with red tape reduction when other things that they are doing are adding red tape. They are adding barriers to businesses and municipalities in the province. I want to use the example of Bill 23. We had a letter from the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority, and they pointed out that when “municipalities are prohibited from seeking advice from conservation authorities, they will need to acquire additional resources and expertise related to natural heritage review, protection and management to replace the substantial technical and science expertise provided by conservation authorities. This will increase costs and delay development.”

So on the one hand, the government says they’re all about red tape reduction—they’re bringing forward this bill—but other bills like Bill 23 have actually added red tape and added barriers to businesses in the province.

Second reading debate deemed adjourned.

It’s my pleasure to rise in the House today and acknowledge an extremely worthwhile organization in my riding: Harvest Hands.

Speaker, did you know that close to 50% of all food produced in this country is wasted or lost to landfills? It’s a staggering and unfortunate reality.

That is exactly why Jim and Jacintha Collins founded Harvest Hands in St. Thomas in 2020. Their mission is to rescue surplus food from retailers, bakers and growers to help feed families. Nutritious, bountiful and perfectly edible food is rescued from landfills. Fresh produce, frozen food, packaged and canned goods all end up in homes throughout southwestern Ontario.

As a non-profit food distribution bank, Harvest Hands’s purpose is to help agencies gain access to good food. Funded entirely by donations and volunteer-driven, Harvest Hands provides food that feeds over 24,000 families a year in southwestern Ontario. Since its inception, Harvest Hands has delivered over $8 million—$8 million—of food from Windsor through to Oshawa. The distribution network that Harvest Hands serves is comprised of more than 80 agencies.

With Christmas fast approaching, many food banks across this province will face an even greater need for volunteers and food donations to meet increased holiday demand.

Waste not, want not.

Thank you, Harvest Hands, for a job well done.

Welcome, gentlemen. Thank you for coming to Queen’s Park.

I’ll remind everyone there is a reception tonight in the dining room.