Thank you for that.

You know, when the first set of quads arrived, it was like, “Oh my gosh, she did it all herself.” Just on Sunday, we had our last doe kid-out and she had quads. Unfortunately, she’s a younger goat, and she’s like, “What are these four things hanging around me?” So we have—the collective we, meaning my brother and sister-in-law—had to be very hands-on. I want to give a shout-out to Al and Teresa for taking that extra care to make sure those four little kids are getting the nutrition they need at a pivotal time.

But a preg-check could—if we were able and had access to the technology, a preg-check would have come in really handy because we would have known what we were going to be experiencing this spring.

Larger herds and bigger farmers actually really benefit from the low-risk preg-checks that can be facilitated, and we need to make sure that that continues, both for sheep farmers and goat farmers, and I also heard from pork producers as well that they need to be continuing to—how do I say this? Pork producers also want to be able to continue the practice of preg-checks in their facilities as well, because it could get very costly.

With low margins and the cost of farming going nowhere but up based on added expenses and the bad policy that we’re seeing from the federal government—I’d be remiss if I didn’t have a second pause and say that margins are tight on farms, and we need to be doing everything we can to help farmers succeed, as opposed to what we see coming from the federal Liberal government right now. I wish the provincial Liberals would stand up to them and say, “Look, we need to make sure that we’re enabling our farmers to be the very best they can be, as opposed to weighing down their shoulders with heavy carbon tax implications.” April 1 is just around the corner. It’s happening next week. When costs of production continue to skyrocket because of this ill-advised policy, it’s important that we do everything we can here provincially to let them know that we are proud of our farmers and we’re trying to reduce burden and reduce the cost of production for them, to offset what little we can because of the bad policies coming from the federal level.

To get back to the subject at hand, if this bill is passed, it would ensure that ultrasound technicians that provide pregnancy checks for small ruminants will continue to be able to do so.

This bill also continues a number of key exemptions that exist in the current Veterinarians Act, such as the ability for farmers, their families and employees to continue to provide care for their animals. This would include continuing the exemption for farmers who have taken the courses to perform preg-checks on their own animals. That’s really important.

This bill also does not propose to regulate lower-risk services such as grooming, hoof trimming or massage. I have to give a shout-out to Ezra. Thank you for coming out on Saturday morning to trim the hooves of our does. We really appreciated that. It’s important. Husbandry matters, and we need to be able to access those people who have those skills.

Rural Ontario has a plethora of talented people who care for animals, and we need to do everything we can, again, to embrace that team approach, recognizing how important our veterinarians are, our registered vet techs, but also that there are other people who provide services to help us be the best we can be in the care of our animals on farm.

Now, as I mentioned, this bill will, if passed, change the name of the regulatory college to the College of Veterinary Professionals of Ontario. It will also add new objects to the college, including working with the minister on access to adequate numbers of qualified, skilled and competent veterinary professionals.

Our bill also includes a number of improvements that will enable the regulatory college to achieve positive outcomes. These improvements include establishing a more diverse council, enabling mandatory quality assurance programming, streamlining the complaints process—and upholding the public trust in the field of veterinary medicine is paramount. That all sounds very complicated so I’ll spell it out for you.

The council for the renamed College of Veterinary Professionals of Ontario would be expanded to include veterinary technicians, representatives from a vet school and a vet tech program and more members of the public. This will bring more perspectives to the table when decisions are being made. What the legislation calls quality assurance programming breaks down to a few things. The college will be able to create requirements for continuing education for its members, something the college has requested and most other self-regulated professions already require. All these proposed changes would bring the veterinary profession in line with other self-regulated professions across Ontario.

One of the concerns we heard during the consultations was that the complaint resolution process for veterinarians took far too long, on both sides of that equation, if you will. This bill proposes to streamline that process, which will be good for both, as I alluded to, veterinarians as well as animal owners. All in all, stakeholder reaction to the proposed modernization has been very positive. Again, I’m proud of the work that entire team has committed to get it right.

I’d also like to share with everyone that the reality is this community of people who care for our pets and our livestock throughout Ontario have been asking for this modernization for years. Their last big push to address this was in 2017. I’m so very proud to stand in front of you today to demonstrate that our government, under the leadership of Premier Ford, had the capacity, had the understanding and had the commitment to listening, consulting, to get it right. It’s our government that’s getting it done, not only for pet owners and for farmers, but we’re getting it done for the professionals who pride themselves in the care that they give in terms of professional care for animals and livestock. Again, building on the legacy of Jack Riddell and the legislation that he introduced 35 years ago, I am very confident that with this legislation and by working with our stakeholders through regulation development, we absolutely will have a foundation for which we can enhance, with confidence, professional care for animals from one end of this province to another.

Madam Speaker, I’m glad that an incredible amount of time was taken to consider the feedback from all of our stakeholders. People will see themselves in this legislation because we took time to reflect on the common-sense approach to the modernization of this particular act. I’m very proud of the manner in which it’s been incorporated into the proposed Veterinary Professionals Act.

Recognizing that there is a team of professionals that come together in the spirit of animal care, does everyone agree? Of course not, but this legislation recognizes the reality that we have across this province here and now. It’s in that spirit of collaboration that I invite all of our professions to continue to work together to make sure that we get it right, because at the end of the day, it is about enhancing our animal care, increasing access, giving certainty to people, pet owners and livestock owners alike across this province so that they have access to good veterinary care. And most importantly, there’s choice as well, like the example that once you have your prescription, you can go to your pharmacist to fill it if you so choose. Choice matters as well in this instance.

Given the extensive consultations undertaken, we feel confident that we are taking the right steps, with actions that will help strengthen the agriculture and food sector and help us to grow Ontario together. That’s the spirit in which our Grow Ontario Strategy was devised and introduced in the fall of 2022. What we’re doing here today with Bill 171 fits so well into our overall Grow Ontario Strategy. Modernizing the legislative framework and increasing veterinary capacity are part of our government’s Grow Ontario Strategy.

Grow Ontario is our provincial agricultural and food pathway, if you will, and it aims to attract and grow Ontario’s agri-food talent. More specifically, these proposed changes would support the government’s plan to develop and increase capacity in the agriculture and agri-food sector. Increasing total agri-food sector employment by 10% by 2032 is a key goal of our overall Grow Ontario Strategy. Like these proposed changes, which arose directly from stakeholder consultations, the Grow Ontario Strategy was informed by the insights of industry.

Speaker, I see the Enhancing Professional Care for Animals Act as one leg of a three-legged stool that supports our government’s goal to improve veterinary care throughout Ontario. Another way we are working to address the labour challenge is by making investments to address veterinary shortages in rural and northern communities. Through our Veterinary Incentive Program, we are encouraging up to 100 recently graduated veterinarians to work in large-animal practices. This program will give these new vets up to $50,000 over five years to work in an underserviced area of the province to address critical skill and labour shortages. This program was announced late last year and already we’re seeing new veterinarians receiving funding to practise in underserved communities, from Fort Frances to Cobden—and Cobden comes from the great county of Renfrew, which has an MPP proudly representing it, day in and day out.

He’s Yak-tastic.

Yes, Yak-tastic, as my colleague said. Also, I have to share that that access to underserviced communities is going to be incredibly well received, from Sturgeon Falls to Markdale, which is represented by our amazing member from Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound.

We have also announced that we are investing up to $14.7 million in the creation of veterinary medicine seats, which will result in 20 additional veterinarians graduating each year. All of these actions, together with the proposed Enhancing Professional Care for Animals Act, will help us to care for our animals, whether they be pets, service animals or livestock.

At the end of the day, this is making sure that people who choose to be pet owners or people who proudly farm and have livestock that they care for have the supports needed, because animals play such an important role. We’ve got a 75-pound lap dog. I don’t know how that happened; my husband will blame me. But we would do anything for her. And even, begrudgingly, my husband would do anything for our barn cats. Our livestock, our purebred Boer goats matter as well, because we are raising our goats in spirit of having the very best genetics in the province of Ontario that other people can benefit from. Those six goats that we kept are working very hard to make sure that we are coming back and increasing our herd in rapid style, much to our chagrin in some cases. We like twins. We’re good with twins, but these triplets and quads blow my mind. I’m always busy on the weekends when I get home to be hands-on.

I also want to share that we’re sincere in the manner in which we are coming forward with this piece of legislation. Bill 171 represents a cumulative effort to make sure we’re getting it right in the spirit of modernization. Getting it right means that there needs to be compromise and that there needs to be the opportunity to understand the importance of working together in the spirit of making sure that, together, in the spirit of a team, we are enabling Ontarians to access the care that they choose, when and where they need it.

Again, our government is getting it done. When you combine the modernization of the Veterinarians Act with the proposed legislation that we’re talking about today, with the fact that we’ve made a significant investment—up to $50,000 over five years—to incent veterinarians to go into practice to care for large animals, particularly in northern and rural remote areas that are underserviced, and you combine that with the additional 20 seats that MCU has worked with finance and OMAFRA on, our government is taking bold steps that haven’t been taken for decades.

Again, this legislation hasn’t been looked at for 35 years, and we need to modernize. I think about our veterinarian at home, Clayton. When I reached out to him to get his perspective on this legislation that we’re bringing forward, he was excited. He said, “I don’t think many veterinarians in this county have had a Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs reach out to see how they felt about a piece of legislation.” That’s the difference between our government and governments of the past. We care enough to take the time to listen.

With that, I look forward to passing the floor over to my esteemed colleague from Chatham-Kent–Leamington. I hope you’ll listen to what he has to share, because he has played a pivotal role in the process of bringing this legislation to the floor.

I recognize the member from Chatham-Kent–Leamington.

I’m so pleased to follow my honourable colleague the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, to share more insights about the proposed Enhancing Professional Care for Animals Act, 2024. I’d like to begin by recognizing the work that the minister has done on this important file and for her leadership in guiding us along the road to where we are today. She’s very quick to provide a lot of insight and a lot of acknowledgement in others, and she’s very humble, but her leadership has truly shepherded this bill to where it is today.

On a personal note, I’d like to also recognize the caring, professional team at the Leamington Veterinary Clinic, which is where my family has taken our beloved dog, Caesar, for over 13 years of exemplary care.

Thank you to Dr. Dana Korpasova and her team, and all veterinary clinics across Ontario, for the work you do to keep our beloved pets and our farm animals healthy and safe. You are truly invaluable in our communities and integral to our families. You’re critical points of contact, care, important resources, and friends. You’re helping inform us and guide us on where our legislation needs to go in the future.

Veterinary medicine has been regulated as a profession in Ontario since 1877, for 147 years now. Access to veterinary care that is regulated and overseen in the public interest is important to everyone.

In 2020, it was estimated that 58% of Canadian households owned at least one dog or cat—a figure believed to have risen over the past few years.

Veterinary care is also important to our food supply chain. In order to raise healthy animals, livestock and poultry, Ontario’s producers need access to comprehensive vet care for their animals.

Veterinarians and veterinary technicians also serve as important public health care components to prevent the spread of serious diseases, such as rabies, and for food safety.

As the minister noted in her remarks, the Veterinarians Act was last updated in 1989, 35 years ago. As we can appreciate, so much has changed since that time, particularly with developments in technology. Technological advances have certainly transformed many practices and approaches to care. Vet care is increasingly being provided by a team of qualified professionals, including both veterinarians and veterinary technicians.

Vet technicians have specialized education, training and experience in animal care that are vital to the care team in many veterinary settings. While registered veterinary technicians have an association that advocates on their behalf—the Ontario Association of Veterinary Technicians—the current legislative framework under the vet act does not formally recognize the role RVTs play in animal care.

I feel very fortunate that my community hosts the exceptional Ridgetown campus of the University of Guelph, which has long been one of the most highly regarded vet tech schools in Ontario and an important partner in my community of Chatham-Kent–Leamington. I’m very grateful to the faculty, staff and students at Ridgetown campus who have welcomed me into their classrooms to meet with, speak to and learn from everyone there.

The very fact that vet techs aren’t recognized by the Veterinarians Act is just one example of how this act no longer reflects modern vet practices. This is precisely why the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs is proposing to update the current legislative framework for the vet profession, to open the door to establishing laws that are flexible and modern, and to support a veterinary sector that supports both pet owners and our thriving agriculture industry.

As the minister explained, these proposed changes are designed to improve access to vet care by letting the college define a broader scope of practice for vet techs and to bring veterinary technicians under the same regulatory college and legislation as veterinarians. This proposed legislation would streamline the complaints process, better define the scope of practice for vet medicine and improve transparency. Modernizing the veterinary profession will make it more responsive to public expectations around governance, transparency, oversight and, most importantly, trust.

Like many regulatory bodies in Ontario that oversee a profession, the veterinary regulatory college operates based on a self-regulation system. Members elect peers to serve on the governing council, together with non-licensed individuals appointed by the Ontario government. The principal object of the college is to regulate the practice of veterinary medicine and to govern members in accordance with the act. The regulatory college overseeing veterinary professionals has expressed its alignment to our proposed changes that aim to enhance ministerial oversight of the regulatory college’s governing council.

Like any legislation in place for decades, it’s imperative to revisit this legislation to ensure it continues to serve its purpose efficiently and effectively. It’s crucially important to consider, in these proposed changes, the needs of veterinarians, veterinary technicians, the public, and the agriculture and food industry. The minister described the consultation process very well, but I want to take a moment here to thank the Associate Minister of Housing for his work, the work he did last year to ensure voices from across our province were heard in the development of this important bill. I want to thank everyone who took part in the consultations, whether they submitted comments via email, took part in the virtual meetings or attended one of the regional live round tables—in particular, the stakeholder groups that worked with our ministry throughout this process. Thank you for your time; thank you for your patience. We hopefully are going to get this right together.

Mark Hamel, chair of the Dairy Farmers of Ontario, said, “I think it was a very thorough review and consultation process. I applaud the work that’s behind it and the timeliness of getting it to this stage and hopefully passed quickly. Again, it will provide great benefit to our producers and the” broader “agriculture sector.”

John Stevens, CEO of the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association, shared this view, saying, “We’ve been very pleased and appreciative of the consultation to date from the ministry and from the minister’s office. We’ve been involved at every step of the way through the public consultations and have felt” we’ve been heard, and we’ve been going through this process together. “We’ve been sharing our inputs,” and the process undertaken so far has been wonderful.

It’s important to note that continued consultations and collaboration are actually built into this new act as the college puts this legislation and any regulations that come from it into practice, should this bill pass. We’re striving here to ensure the act can support both individual pet owners and the agriculture industry’s current and future needs.

An important aspect of the proposed changes is all about quality assurance, specifically, enabling the regulatory college to develop a formal quality assurance program, which will be overseen by a new statutory committee. This change aims to better ensure continual learning and competence of all members of this important profession.

The proposal mirrors what’s currently in place for professional regulatory colleges in human health care. For example, the member from Brantford–Brant must complete continuing education every year as a practising optometrist, and the member from Mississauga Centre participates in continuing education as a registered nurse. As a professional provincial police officer, I had to complete and pass mandatory annual training with specific qualifications. The same is true for accountants, for lawyers, for teachers and many other professions. This is designed to maintain public trust and assurance in the profession, as well as to ensure all active veterinarians and vet techs are up to date with the latest developments in animal care.

In addition to governance and quality assurance, the proposed changes would include the components dealing with investigations, professional misconduct, a member’s fitness to practise and suspected incompetence. The proposed changes would clearly enable a greater amount of information about a licence holder to be collected and, where appropriate, posted on the public-facing register. Again, this is very similar to other regulated professions.

Since regulated professions are specialists, many other people don’t have the technical knowledge to judge how well they do their jobs. The ability for the college to post information is intended to allow animal owners to check whether the veterinarian or vet tech they have is a member in good standing using proper protocols and practices, and that they’re up to modern standards.

The proposed changes would also bring about mandatory reporting requirements which would require any member who suspects that another member may be unfit to practise due to a health issue or other factor, to report this to the college. There would also be legal protections for members making such reports in good faith. Such a report could be used to bring about an investigation by the college if the college believes there is a need to examine the matter further or potentially discipline a member.

This bill, if passed, would also increase penalties for actions that could harm an animal, to better reflect the scope of wrongdoing. Fines for taking actions that could foreseeably cause serious harm to an animal without being licensed by the college would be set in legislation and carry serious fines up to: $25,000 for an individual on first offence and $50,000 for subsequent offences; $50,000 for a corporation on the first offence and $200,000 for subsequent offences. These are serious. Maximum fines for practising veterinary medicine without a licence would increase to the same levels.

Based on feedback received during our consultations, several significant points emerged that informed the proposed modernized legislative framework. Animal owners—including farmers, their family members and employees—need to be able to continue to provide care and treatment for their animals, and veterinarians need the continued ability to delegate tasks in a practice to a competent auxiliary—at their discretion and under supervision, of course. For example, this could be an experienced veterinary assistant at a companion animal hospital who is not a veterinary technician.

Bill 171 is part of a larger strategy to address the need for increased veterinary capacity in Ontario, particularly for farm animals in underserved parts of the province. As the minister mentioned, we have also launched a Veterinary Incentive Program to encourage newly licensed vets to practise in northern and underserviced communities and we’re investing in an additional 20 seats in veterinary school every year.

The College of Veterinarians of Ontario has worked with our government previously to reduce red tape through recent regulatory amendments which streamlined how vet facilities are accredited in Ontario. These efforts in the recent past have allowed vet practices to provide multiple levels of care to no longer need multiple certificates of accreditation, removing additional paperwork for practice owners. Together with the changes proposed in this bill, the Enhancing Professional Care for Animals Act, we’re confident we will be successful in increasing access to vet care for animals across the province.

Madam Speaker, I have appreciated the opportunity to speak today on the Enhancing Professional Care for Animals Act. To better reflect the current practice of veterinary medicine, Ontario needs modernized legislation that embraces contemporary approaches to professional regulation and governance: in other words, one profession—veterinary medicine—comprised of two professionals—veterinarians and veterinary technicians—serving the public interest.

These proposed changes are part of broader efforts to support success for Ontario’s agriculture and food industry, and to streamline and simplify the processes for those doing business in Ontario.

We feel very strongly that these proposed changes will help bring about a veterinary profession that is more responsive to public expectations in governance, transparency and oversight.

We are so pleased that the work done to develop the proposed act has been accomplished through close collaboration with those who are directly impacted by it. We are confident that the process of consultation on modernization of the Veterinarians Act has effectively shaped these proposed changes.

Key to the success of the consultation process on the act was the participation of the College of Veterinarians of Ontario, the Ontario Association of Veterinary Technicians and the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association as well as the veterinarians and vet techs themselves who took time out of their busy professional lives to participate in the process and the consultation, as well as other animal care providers, humane societies, farmers and pet owners. We’re so grateful for their collaboration and for their professionalism in this process. As always, we are committed to listen to stakeholders and to incorporate their insights, and as we continue to do so, we will ensure the proposed changes will better serve everyone in the province over the long-run.

The new legislative framework we propose aims to take a balanced and risk-based approach to the practice of veterinary medicine while continuing to protect animal health and well-being. We are confident these proposed actions will help us keep growing Ontario together.

Thank you for your time today. And on a final note, this process is collaborative, and that is a word to describe listening to stakeholders, to pet owners, to livestock owners, to farmers, veterinarians, vet technicians and that whole circle of continual care. By embracing that wisdom collectively, we think we have a diligent, prudent and comprehensive piece of legislation that can be accepted, can be agreed to; it can bring Ontario into the future, and we hope that we will have collaboration and we’ll have success from across the aisle and from everyone in this House to take vet care into the future.

It’s always interesting to listen to one-hour leads.

We recently learned of 14 animal deaths at Marineland in my riding of Niagara Falls. There’s been a growing concern over the lack of action and transparency from this government when it comes to holding this organization accountable for their actions towards animals and for their safety and care.

So my question is to the government: Will this Conservative government step up and hold Marineland accountable and work towards a day where there are no animals at Marineland anymore?

Questions?

I want to thank the minister and the parliamentary assistant for bringing forth this legislation. It is extremely necessary and going to be a real game-changer in our agricultural sector. I want to thank you for having the consultations in Pembrooke as well. They were well attended and very, very helpful and informative.

I know there are number of things there that are real game-changers: the additional seats at the universities, the $50,000 allowance to encourage more veterinarians in rural and remote areas, but I want to focus more on the enhancement and expansion of the authorities of veterinary technicians. I see these as the nurse practitioners in our agricultural field now, where we’re understanding that there just aren’t enough doctors, so to speak, but we can give some additional authority to some other people that can be tremendously helpful.

I would ask the PA if you could expand on just how important and significant this change is going to be and what it’s going to mean to our agricultural sector.

I’ve been listening for the last hour to the presentation on the new bill. When we talk about animals, governments have come a long way. History tells us, where I come from, the former department of lands and forests would come in and kill our sled dogs. These are government officials that used to do that. That is for us to starve, right, so we don’t continue our ways of life.

But this is 2024. Where I come from, we have this term, “reservation dogs,” “reserve dogs” or “rez dogs.” Sometimes they’re overpopulated, and we don’t have access to veterinarians on-reserve. How will this bill ensure that the people in Kiiwetinoong and fly-in First Nations have access to veterinary services?

My question is to the PA. I have two very, very spoiled Australian shepherds. They’re like people to me. I was just wondering how this bill will affect the veterinary techs and the veterinarians and how it will help my animals live longer and be more successful in providing—I’m going to say entertainment, because that’s what it is.

I listened intently to the remarks from the minister and from the parliamentary assistant.

We are largely in favour of this bill. It lays out ground rules for the regulation of veterinarians and regulation of vet techs—very important. But there’s—and this is a legitimate question—a carve-out for chiropractors. I didn’t hear it in the remarks, so I’d like if we could have an explanation of why there’s a carve-out for chiropractors, which seems to be a human designation as opposed to a veterinary animal designation.

I’d like to start off my remarks by perhaps ruining the suspense and saying that we will be in favour of this bill, not only for some of the measures that are included, but for the way the bill itself has been presented and—I said this in committee on other legislation—the fact that this has had extensive consultation among all stakeholders. We also consulted the stakeholders, and not everyone agrees with everything, but everyone who was interested got to have their input, and that’s really important; I give credit where credit is due and criticism where criticism is due. This has not always occurred in some of the other bills that this government has presented, and as a result, some of those bills have had to be rescinded. We are in favour of the content of the bill, but just the way it’s done—this is the way, when you’re developing legislation, that it should be done: Talk to the stakeholders, bring forward a comprehensive bill on one core issue or related issues. I’m not trying to make a pun here: There’s no poison pill in this vet bill, and that’s important.

Regardless of where we sit in this House, we are all here for the same reason: to make better legislation, to modernize legislation, to create new legislation. We are all parts of the partisan political process, but at the end of the day, we all have the same goal.

I believe that this bill is an example. I just want to repeat myself that this bill is an example, and I give credit to the minister and parliamentary assistant and their staff and to all the people who took the time to consult on the way this bill was presented. There might be changes needed in the future. We are all human; no one is perfect, and no piece of legislation is perfect either.

This is a very important piece of legislation. When you’re talking about veterinary medicine and the people who take care of our animals and our companion animals, our service animals and agricultural livestock—and actually, some of us have experience with all three. It’s hard to describe, but there’s a difference. Everyone here knows, but maybe some people don’t know—if there’s anybody watching this—that I’m a farmer by trade, a dairy farmer for 35 years. So we had livestock, and we had a very close relationship with our vets. But we also have pets and had a different relationship with the vet with pets.

I’m going to be fairly—“blunt” is the wrong word, but realistic. Often, a farmer has a different relationship with an animal than a pet owner. For a time, my wife—we took over a service dog that was—someone with a wheelchair had a dog; it wasn’t really a service dog. The dog was very well trained, but the dog became too much to handle. From that experience, we learned that someone who has a service animal has an incredibly different relationship than just a pet—not “just” a pet—or livestock. It was totally different—a dependence. To truly understand the impact that veterinary medicine has on everyone’s lives, particularly on people who practise it and the people who work with animals, but on everyone’s lives, you have to understand that.

It is incredibly hard to become a vet. Incredibly hard, and some would say perhaps too hard. Again, I’m being really—for many years, we haven’t—and I give credit where credit is due: There are going to be now more seats to teach vets. I think we need more, but we have started. The bar is incredibly high to be a vet, and it needs to be. It’s an incredibly skilled job.

But the bar, it doesn’t need to be lowered. This isn’t in this bill; I just want to say this. It doesn’t necessarily need to be lowered, but it needs to be shifted perhaps a bit, because it’s not just—and particularly for rural vets, livestock vets; actually, most rural areas are underserviced, because when you have a lot of rural, you don’t have a lot of houses. You have less people, and there’s a reason.

But the practice of being a vet or a vet tech—and I’ll get to them this afternoon. There’s much different treating an animal in a veterinary clinic in a city or a town than there is calving a cow at 25 below, 20 miles outside of town. That’s a reality. That’s something that, unless you’ve grown up or been exposed to that—a lot of people who are incredible vets look at doing that and, quite frankly, they pick small animal—

Further questions?

Thank you to the member for that very relevant question. That whole continuum of care has to include farmers, it has to include the people that—it could be pet owners. Sometimes, modernizations include that continuum, using technology and using the people that have some experience, some training through different mediums—it could be through technology or through a veterinarian technician—to triage, care for and provide that whole wraparound level of care to extend that, especially in farming communities, remote communities and underserviced areas.

Sometimes the veterinarian could be an hour- or a two-hour drive away while there is an animal emergency. To have someone in close proximity to provide that care, under professional guidance, is critical. This act addresses that.

Now they have enabling legislation to reach out to connect to someone with the care and say, “We don’t have a vet on hand right now. We have an animal emergency,” or “We have some concerns for the safety of animals.” I can connect to someone with a level of care to provide that care to the animal and be fully protected under the law. Thank you for the question.

This enabling legislation, first and most importantly, enables veterinary technicians to practise a level of care to the full scope of their training and experience, where sometimes in the past it was limited. Little procedures that a vet tech can certainly take care of for your pets and for my pets had to be under the care and direct supervision of a veterinarian, who may be more apt to be taking care of more serious surgical concerns. So this enabling legislation allows everyone to do the care and to practise that care to the full scope of their training.

That’s what the college regulates, and that’s where the legislation takes us. Other areas of care are important. That’s one component, but I don’t think it’s really critical to the bigger conversation of advancing and modernizing animal care.

The backlog at Ontario’s Landlord and Tenant Board has expanded to over 53,000 cases. In Windsor West and across the province, we’re amidst the most severe housing and homelessness crisis in recent history.

Every day, the Premier gives his commitment to providing shelter for the people of Ontario, yet year after year, tenants and landlords alike are left waiting for justice. Under this Conservative government, the wait-list has quadrupled. Since 2018 when this Premier formed government, the tribunal has handled fewer applications every single year.

This backlog is a testament to a system spiralling out of control, as highlighted in the report by Tribunal Watch Ontario. Tenants facing maintenance disputes endure extremely long waits of over 14 months for resolution, while landlords struggling with rent non-payment eviction cases are left hanging for more than a year. This is unacceptable.

The report highlights that the root of this issue lies in the politicization of the LTB by this Conservative government favouring political appointments over experienced professionals who have knowledge in the field to make decisions fairly and quickly.

Every day, my office hears from tenants and landlords about the serious consequences of this, with individuals having to bear significant personal costs: lost housing, poor living conditions for tenants and significant financial hardships, particularly impacting small landlords.

My Ontario NDP colleagues and I continue to call on this government to implement much-needed reforms of the LTB as suggested by the Ombudsman. It’s time to ensure that all Ontarians receive the justice and relief they so desperately need.

My apologies to the member. I was very enthralled in that speech, but we’ve run out of time. It’s now time for members’ statements.

Second reading debate deemed adjourned.

It was a pleasure speaking about my two pets today. I’m sure Ginger and Scout are watching us right now on TV if Lassie isn’t on.

Madam Speaker, with much pride, I share with you some very good news from a school in my riding today. The International School of Cambridge was recently ranked by the Fraser Institute as one of the top schools in Ontario. The school, which is owned and operated by the Islamic Centre of Cambridge, was one of 13 schools in the province to receive a perfect score of 10. As such, the school was ranked number one among 2,975 schools across Ontario.

The International School of Cambridge, formerly known as the Islamic School of Cambridge, was founded in 1992 and is attended by approximately 300 students enrolled in grade 8 all the way down to junior kindergarten. The school attracts students not only from Cambridge, but also from Kitchener, Waterloo, Guelph and Brantford.

Mohammad Darr, chairman of the Islamic Centre of Cambridge, had this to say about the school’s success: “We’re really excited. It is a matter of great pride for us. We maintain high standards of teaching and quality facilities as the reasons that this school stands out among others.”

The Fraser Institute’s Report Card on Ontario’s Elementary Schools ranks public, Catholic and independent schools based on nine academic indicators derived from the province-wide test results.

Congratulations to the students, teachers and administrators of the International School of Cambridge on a job well done.

Today, I’d like to highlight the importance of our local dairy farmers and dairy producers. On Monday, I attended the Stormont Dairy Producers annual general meeting in my riding. I’m really good at selling ice cream cones, but I’m no expert in dairy farming or agriculture. What I do know is that our local dairy farmers work long hours day and night to ensure our communities have high-quality dairy products.

At the AGM, I learned that Ontario is the second-largest dairy producer in Canada, accounting for over 32% of total dairy farm cash receipts in Canada. I also learned that dairy farming is the largest sector of Ontario agriculture, and as per the DFO 2023 Annual Report, Ontario is home to 3,213 dairy producers. That’s pretty impressive.

Next month, I will be attending the Dairy Cares event in my riding. Dairy Cares is an important event for our community where local dairy farmers, stakeholders and agribusinesses from across SD&G come together to celebrate and thank our three local hospitals: the Cornwall Community Hospital, the Winchester District Memorial Hospital and Glengarry Memorial Hospital. All funds raised at the Dairy Cares event go to these three hospitals. Last year, the event raised $187,488. I’m excited to know how much they can raise this year.

You meet many people in your life, and for whatever reason, some of them just stick with you. One person in my life is the Honourable Consiglio Di Nino. Sometimes it feels like the forces of the world wanted us to get to know each other. He was in the Senate when I was in kindergarten on the opposite side of the world. As a young activist, full of passion and energy, I was restless to change the world, and he was the wise sage with wisdom and encouragement along the way. He was the first person who told me I should run for office. Years later, I would seek public office—except as an NDP candidate. Even so, he endorsed me, donated to my campaign, and he has always championed me. I would go on to become the MPP for Parkdale–High Park, representing the very neighbourhood he grew up in as a young Italian immigrant boy.

He was a Parkdale kid. He worked at the TD bank at the corner of Jameson and Queen, and he went to school up the street on Roncesvalles, at St. Vincent de Paul.

Inspired by his mentors, he has lived with the motto “Life is about what you give, not what you get.” And he has given so much. He was a volunteer chair of the Harbourfront Corp.; president of the Canadian Italian business association; president of Scouts Canada, Toronto region; a founder of Villa Charities, and so on.

Most important to me, he has been the strongest voice for the Tibetan people in Canada. As someone who enjoyed high-altitude hiking, he went to Tibet and visited the Jokhang temple in Lhasa, the capital. While there, a monk took a big risk and secretly handed him a piece of paper with a message, and the message was to tell the world what was going on in Tibet. And Consiglio Di Nino has carried that message since that day, for over 30 years.

Con—or Uncle Con, as many call him—you’ve changed and shaped lives, including mine. Thank you for everything.

Nous célébrons aujourd’hui la Journée internationale de la Francophonie, marquant une journée très importante pour les Franco-Ontariennes et Franco-Ontariens et les francophones de partout à travers le Canada.

La Journée internationale de la Francophonie a été créée en 1988 et elle est célébrée à chaque année le 20 mars, avec pour objectif le partage et l’appréciation de la langue française et de la culture francophone. Aujourd’hui, plus de 300 millions de francophones vivent sur les cinq continents. L’Ontario compte plus de 620 000 francophones, ce qui en fait la plus grande communauté francophone du Canada hors Québec. Dans l’ensemble, plus de 1,5 million d’Ontariens parlent français.

La journée de la Francophonie est l’occasion de se rassembler en tant que communauté et d’honorer la langue française. Et en 2020, monsieur le Président, ma collègue la membre de Mississauga-Centre a eu l’honneur de proposer des amendements à la Loi sur l’emblème franco-ontarien, afin de désigner le drapeau franco-ontarien comme emblème officiel de l’Ontario. Il a reçu la sanction royale et est devenu loi le 24 septembre 2020, et le drapeau franco-ontarien est devenu le huitième symbole officiel de l’Ontario.

Notre gouvernement reconnaît la contribution inestimable de la langue française à la vitalité et au succès de l’Ontario. Nous avons démontré cet engagement envers les francophones en modernisant la Loi sur les services en français pour la première fois en plus de 35 ans, monsieur le Président.

En tant que membre de la circonscription avec la plus grande présence francophone en Ontario, c’est avec beaucoup d’enthousiasme que je célèbre cette journée avec vous tous. Que vous fassiez partie de la communauté francophone ou que vous aspiriez à apprendre la langue, cette journée est pour vous.