Or wanted to.

But there’s nothing in this bill—it’s a regulatory bill. It’s not going to directly impact them. But it is a big concern.

I don’t want to get all the veterinarians in the world mad at me, but now that we can do pregnancy checks with ultrasound, I think a vet tech could do that, someone trained—because we have AI technicians who breed cows, right? But a vet tech, someone with expertise, should be able to do pregnancy diagnosis very easily. I think that opens up more expertise for vets to look at disease reduction, increasing production. Animal health is going to be more and more important, and I think that will give more breadth to that.

Dr. Connie Dancho and Dr. Lance Males were my later vets at the Temiskaming veterinary clinic. Again, they taught me the value of doing regular herd health, the long-term value.

I don’t know if they’re famous, but they’ve certainly made a huge difference to the farmers in Timiskaming.

I really appreciate the commentary and the member from Timiskaming–Cochrane sharing his experience and also sharing some good questions—to question a good bill to make sure it’s the best it can be.

Now, we talked about farmers being able to do routine, non-invasive procedures, and the fact that this bill safeguards that. Will the member agree that, within this proposed act, we are certainly enabling livestock farmers and even pet owners to perform those routine, non-invasive procedures, to safeguard that very important part of raising healthy livestock and pets?

We have a great veterinarian in the riding of Essex. His name is Dr. Richard Barnett. As the member from Timiskaming–Cochrane said, veterinarians often form very strong relationships with their clients, almost become members of the family. I’d like to invite the member to talk about any famous veterinarians that he has in his riding, like our riding of Essex, where we have Dr. Richard Barnett.

Did you get to Kenora?

Hang on. Yes, “Stick to politics.” No, he said my sporting activities greatly interfered with my scholastic abilities, or studies, so I didn’t get to vet school, and I’m glad I didn’t—because it’s a really tough job. But I remember, many years, many times, going to the barn, and I always wanted to be there when the vet came. No matter what happened or was going on, I would be the one who wanted to go to the vet, to the barn—calvings, twisted stomachs. We heard about milk fever, Caesarean burst, bloat, whatever it may be—I remember being there right in the middle of it and learning and listening and enjoying it very much.

I didn’t give up on my dream totally. After going to Guelph, I started a career, obviously, in animal nutrition—and I thanked the member opposite for his great business over the years. Really, animal health is part of animal nutrition, or animal nutrition is part of animal health, and whether it’s livestock, poultry, specialty animals or companion animals, it’s very, very important.

The bottom line is that never before has the need for a modernized vet act been needed in this province. If passed, this legislation will make many positive changes, and it will impact animal care professionals such as vets, veterinary technicians and farmers alike.

Ontario farmers and pet owners rely on vet services to keep their animals healthy and safe. Ontario consumers who depend on livestock farmers for animal nutrition, protein, also benefit from these services which ensure that the food we consume is safe, healthy and humanely produced.

We must properly recognize our animal care professionals for their tireless work in the role of keeping our animals, large and small, very healthy. Part of that recognition is making their governing legislation reflective of the current realities in their industry.

Again, as I said, I spent a career in animal nutrition. The Feeds Act plays a lot with how we handle feed medicines, and I’ll tell another little brief story here. In 2008, our company acquired the assets of Land O’Lakes in Ontario. With it came an animal health division, and it was called PharmBarn—not F-A-R-M, but P-H-A-R-M; pharmacy barn, a play on words. I thought, “Ah, what do we want to be in this business for? I don’t think this is going to be worthwhile keeping.” Actually, the business is in the minister’s riding in Wingham, where our plant is at, where the base of the business is. It was a distributor of animal health products—prescribed by veterinarians, in some cases—so we had a stronger working relationship with the Ontario veterinary community. I learned a lot with that business, and we’ve grown it. It still is a very important part of that business. What’s important is the working relationship between our vet, vet technicians, animal nutritionists—as the member opposite said, they have to be in harmony.

On my beef farm—again, the member for Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke will know Dr. Tony Ruyter, who is a great vet—I’ll come back to this a little bit later. What concerns me, here’s a guy who has been a vet, graduated from Guelph, has probably been a vet for 45 years, and he wants to retire. He is, I think, about seventy-ish. If he’s listening, I’m sorry if I’m divulging his age. He wants to go, but he’s Johnny-on-the-spot. He’s still working.

This phone is an amazing thing—I know you’re not supposed to use props. Sorry, Speaker. But I can turn that phone on today—technology today; I was showing some folks earlier—and I can see live—my cows are calving right now—who is calving, who isn’t, if they’re having problems, if they are not. I’ve got other people, my herdsmen and people at the farm, with that technology, so you don’t have to necessarily get out of bed to go check cows. You can check the camera. The technology is great.

This year, we’ve had 45 calves. I can tell you that there has been a few times where we see someone who is having a little trouble, so what we do is we will phone the vet if we need the vet and they can come out right away. It speeds up the process for service. The key is, in underserviced areas—and I’m going to say where the member opposite may not have that choice anymore—you can’t phone the vet and expect someone to show up in 20 minutes or 30 minutes or 40 minutes. It could be four hours or half a day. This is where the role of vet technicians can come in, and this legislation deals with it directly.

So to all those who want to retire, I say to those vets, for the sake of animal welfare, please hang around as long as you can. And we’ll talk in a few minutes about how we’ve added 20 spots for veterinary students in the province of Ontario.

Again, I’ll talk a little bit about animal consolidation. What we used to do on farms years ago—herd sizes have changed. I’ll give you an example: In the early 1980s, there were 22,000 dairy farms in Ontario; today I think 3,700 or a little bit less. There were 23,000 hog farms; today, I can tell you, less than 400 farms produce more pork than they did out of those 23,000. It’s changed immensely. As such, the need and the desire for different services in terms of veterinary medicine needs to be done, and that’s what this legislation deals with, absolutely.

As the agricultural industry modernizes, so must this legislation. Advanced and modern livestock farms need flexibility and mobility that the current vet act does not allow. There are complex needs in administering the health of animals, and as my colleagues have already noted, the Enhancing Professional Care for Animals Act is a much-needed update to the vet act that will provide crucial structure for animal care professionals working in the province. It’s just not the same as it was 35 years ago, as is the question I asked the member opposite. We’re going to have to think about changing it in the next five to 10 years going forward because it’s going to continually evolve.

When I was parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, I had the absolute privilege—and I thank her for the opportunity—of chairing the vet act modernization round tables throughout the province. These round tables were held in communities like St. Thomas in my riding, Barrie, Lindsay, Huntsville, Pembroke—we were up to Thunder Bay and we held numerous—

Along with many virtual meetings, we dealt with all kinds of issues from veterinary needs to vet technicians, the role they need to play; the chiropractic choices that people are looking for in some cases; large versus small animals, companion animals; as well as urban versus rural needs. The purpose of these round tables was to receive as much public feedback from industry experts, farmers and animal owners as possible, and we got that feedback in spades.

Having worked in the business of agriculture my whole life, and currently owning and operating a farm, I can say those consultations were very informative. I learned as much as I could give back. And I thank the minister again. She provided, I think, all stakeholders, and I’ve heard it now spoken from everyone that the consultative process worked and worked well. We had sheep and goat producers there, cattle, pork, equine, companion animals—all were represented.

It’s an interesting statistic: Back before I was elected to the Legislature here, during COVID, it was said—and we had an animal health business and an animal pet food business, so we fed a lot of companion animals as well—that there was as much as a million more dogs in Canadian homes. Everyone is heard of the COVID dogs. Well, we got a lot. Whether it was a million or hundreds of thousands, whatever it may be, we did get a lot more. And we’re seeing the effect of it today in our humane societies; we’re seeing it in terms of need for vet technicians and vets. It’s created its own mini-pandemic itself. So, again, I think this vet act, along with the work it’s doing with technicians, is going to help manage that situation.

Our population continues to grow, and as it grows—people like pets—companion animals will need the changes in this act to help not only produce more food but to provide services to those family pets. There’s never been more need for veterinary professionals to care for these animals, and I am pleased to share that the minister has acted.

As a side note—and I think everybody knows; we’ve talked about it before—I was pleased to join the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Colleges and Universities last March for a historic announcement at the University of Guelph. Our government announced investments that would increase the number of vet graduates in Ontario by 20 seats, opening spaces for Ontario students to choose a career in veterinary medicine. That was a very important piece of investment that is already serving the province well. It’s the first time that a government increased the number of veterinary spaces since 1988.

We also introduced a new incentive—this especially helps northern Ontario and underserviced communities—to expand the number of large animal veterinarians practising in these underserviced communities. We’ll provide up to $50,000 over a five-year period to support their higher costs to service these regions throughout Ontario. So, again, I believe these changes—opening more spaces, providing the subsidization—help us immensely in terms of complementing the act that we’re presenting in the Legislature here. A bias for action will continue to get it done for animal care professionals. As such, we must ensure that strong legislation is in place to support these professionals, not only today, but in the future.

Speaker, in terms of the organizations that came out to these consultative round tables, I’d like to thank the federation of agriculture; many humane societies throughout the province; many equine specialty vet services. Mobile veterinarians were out; Ontario Pork was there; Beef Farmers of Ontario were there; Ontario Sheep Farmers; Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario. The college of veterinarians came to every meeting, whether it was virtual or in person. Ultrasound service providers were there; the Ontario Association of Veterinary Technicians—again, a big part of what this legislation is about; the beekeepers’ association; particular livestock organizations as I’ve talked about; and the list goes on. Really, really great to have this support.

I’ll give you a couple of quotes from key people that showed up. From Dr. John Stevens, CEO of the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association: “OVMA supports legislation that reduces the regulatory burden on the profession by recognizing the vital role of registered veterinary technicians.”

From Doug Brooks, the president and CEO of Ontario SPCA and Humane Society: “The Ontario SPCA and Humane Society strongly supports allowing registered veterinary technicians to practise at a level reflecting their training and expertise.” This will help “increase access to veterinary care....”

Finally, I will quote Drew Spoelstra, president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture: “These proposed changes ... will ensure Ontario farmers have access to modern and quality care for their livestock, a crucial component to the economic stability of Ontario’s rural communities.”

Speaker, this has gone a long way, I believe, in being consultative and also supporting every facet of animal agriculture plus companion animals that the province has today.

Bill 171 represents a meaningful step in the right direction for Ontario veterinarians, and this government remains committed to this action. We will continue to work with stakeholders to build a modern, responsive framework for crucial work that they do. During the many consultations that our government hosted, I learned that stakeholders wanted to ensure that authorization of care reflected the modern needs of farmers. Speaker, I’m pleased to see that there will be a healthy update for the government structure that will reflect the feedback that we received.

Interjection.

It’s now time for questions.

I just hope Catherine is not mad at me.

The member opposite got a little nervous there, got a little jumpy.

Last year, as part of the consultative process, I had a chance to go to the annual vet tech conference in Niagara, and I believe the minister experienced it this year as well when she went. It was amazing to me how excited these vet techs were to even have us talking about these proposed changes. There’s a growing number of vet technicians in this province and they do unbelievable yeoman service. I heard it said in the debate a little bit earlier: really see vet technicians like nurse practitioners. They can play that type of role. As we modernize and grow and continue to consolidate, I agree that I think you’re going to see the role of the vet technician continue to expand and be more important in everyday care of animals in this province.

We recognize that vet techs and farmers can administer the care on a day-to-day basis as informed by a veterinarian. We think this is very important and it’s recognized in the bill. We need to provide comprehensive legislation that enables improved, proper and efficient care for animals. It’s what I’ve heard during the consultations with stakeholders, and the government is proceeding, thankfully, in that direction.

Governments should support and allow professionals to provide informed and educated health care for animals, and after more than three decades, it’s time for the vet act to be modernized. Common sense prevails with this legislation. Logical and progressive changes prevail with this legislation. Speaker, I’m happy to have spoken in support of the proposed Bill 171, Enhancing Professional Care for Animals Act, and look forward to further debate. Thank you for your time.

I would also add one component to her question that she could maybe have asked. We want to see more Ontario kids get into these schools, and I would respectfully suggest that marks are important, always, but not always the only criteria that people should get into vet college on. There are lots of people who want to stay and live in the community they live in or the province that they grew up in, so it’s important that they get those opportunities, too, to get a seat in a vet college. But I would say that, in today’s world, our population has more than doubled since I was in high school, and I would argue that we still feed every Ontarian who is in this province, and we continue to have a wonderful, robust and successful agri-food industry, and we will have for decades to come.

Thank you to the member from Elgin–Middlesex–London.

We had the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations here today, and their very strong message was that universities and colleges are collapsing because they’ve been underfunded for so many years. The underfunding predates this government, but it has continued. And even the new funding is—by the time you divide it by three years and then divide it by 25 universities, 35 colleges, it doesn’t amount to much. So even though we’ve got these great plans for new teaching opportunities for vets, my concern is—I wonder if you can help balance the books so that students can actually afford to get that training.

Further questions?

Back to further debate.

It’s not enough.

I want to thank the member from Elgin–Middlesex–London. What a valuable member of caucus, and now an associate minister, to have his depth of background that he mentioned, not only as a beef farmer, but his years of service as CEO of Masterfeeds. He kindly came to Lindsay to do a round table for Haliburton–Kawartha Lakes–Brock, but we also included Durham and, I think, Northumberland. The room was full, and so was the computer screen.

A shout-out to Mark Torrey and Steve Brackenridge from the OFA, that were there, and to Godfrey Tyler and his group from the Haliburton County Farmers’ Association, because Haliburton county, for sure, has a shortage of vets—in fact, they don’t have one right now. But as the community that Haliburton always is, it comes together to find the means.

Modernization, you mentioned, but you also mentioned about the vet techs and their increase in what they can do, and I wondered if you expand a bit on that.

Again, it was great to be in Lindsay that night. I remember, when I travelled the province, for me it was a little like Old Home Week. When people say, “Where do you go when you come to Toronto?”, I don’t know where I am, but if you tell me where somewhere in small-town Ontario is, I can usually find it or get there, because somewhere there’s a farmer with a feed bin somewhere that we used to try and at least do business with.

Vet techs are going to be a massively important part of the role going forward. The member for Timiskaming–Cochrane said it best, and I agree totally with him: In the future, farms are going to be bigger and farther apart, especially in the northern and eastern parts of this province, so vet technicians will play a more important role. Even more importantly, they’ll work in conjunction with their vet to make sure that the services can be done—things like ultrasounds, things like preg-checks—many different things that can be done, really, by a vet technician with oversight from a vet, but without a vet being on the farm. It’s going to work, and work really well.

So the answer is giving vet technicians more opportunity to perform some of the services without a vet on site, and secondly, it’s to continue to find more spaces for students to follow a career in veterinary medicine, like we did last year for the 20 spaces opening up both in Thunder Bay and in Guelph.

And lo and behold, this government, this minister, acted. It’s not part of this legislation, but it’s a meaningful and important step towards servicing those who are in underserviced or more remote parts of the province.

I would start off by respectfully submitting that $1.3 billion is a lot of money. And you’re right—

Generally, I take a look at the University of Guelph or Thunder Bay—up at Thunder Bay, we do a really good job in agriculture. That being said, we’ve opened up 20 spaces. There’s a demand for more. What we have to do is create the need in communities and—

It has been an interesting discussion today, as we’ve been learning more and more about the veterinary sciences. But it’s also interesting when we do a bit of research and preparation for these debates. We might pull some other pieces in, which is what I wanted to raise.

I found it interesting, and maybe a bit surprising that many veterinarians are experiencing a very significant mental health crisis. There is so much pressure. We think about vets, and maybe we connect them to a doctor’s practice, with all of the pressures of establishing that practice, meeting expectations. But what is it that the government has heard in consultation—I don’t think it’s in this bill—but how are we going to address meaningfully that vets want to stay in the profession, but they may need support, especially when we’re looking at such a mental health crisis?

Many moons ago, but since having been elected, I had the opportunity to serve as the critic for community safety and correctional services, as it was called then. One of the very first pieces of legislation that I was responsible for, as critic, was the then Bill 80, and that dealt with orcas in captivity; that dealt with, basically, the Marineland story of Kiska. It was a big and interesting topic, and I remember the passion and enthusiasm of animal welfare experts and their—maybe with the exception of optometry clients. Those who care about animals will drop everything that they are doing and rally to look out for and look after animals.

We’re here talking about veterinarians, and I can’t imagine that there are very many veterinarians who don’t start early in life as enthusiastic animal lovers.

I’m quite surprised that my younger brother didn’t pursue veterinary sciences, because he was a budding biologist, really. When we were up anywhere that there was fresh water, you could find him catching crayfish, learning all about them. I still remember when he was a wee little thing. I remember him sobbing and sobbing because he had heard a sound and he went to find what was making the sound and it was nature—a small snake eating a small frog—and his poor, little heart would just break, and that’s when I knew that he was his mother’s child for sure. I think both of them prefer animals to human company.

But as someone who comes from a family of animal lovers, I certainly have an appreciation for the passion and enthusiasm for making the world a better place for animals. So we have many hats in this Legislature, in this role, and we advocate for our constituents, the ones who call us, the ones who email us and maybe the ones that can’t talk or text but are four-legged friends.

So we’re here debating a bill that is, as I said, the Enhancing Professional Care for Animals Act. It updates legislation governing veterinary professionals to reflect current practices. As we’ve heard from our critic, this was a bill that was well consulted, and we are always glad to have that be the case. It’s happened like, what, four times in my 10 years here? Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating but when we are able to stand here and debate legislation that has been thoughtfully both researched and travelled and had experts weighing in so that it is the best version of the bill that it can be at this point, that is heartening to see.

Part of what this bill achieves, is it includes recognition that veterinary care is delivered by a team and acknowledges the roles of veterinary techs or vet techs. It defines a scope of veterinary practices that can only be done by registered veterinary professionals, and also it allows for a more streamlined complaints-and-resolution process, as well as a new quality assurance program and it establishes a reasonable framework.

Then, coming will be the regulations, and that will be done certainly—I’m sure that it will be, but I hope it will be done in consultation with those who really know what the implications of the regulations would be. And so the final bill—or it won’t come into effect until all of those regulations are done, and that will be following further consultation.

I’ll read a little bit here, and I don’t—actually, I’ll get to that. Yes, I’ll share. New legislation is set forward for veterinary medicine, and this is a piece submitted: “The Council of College of Veterinarians of Ontario ... is optimistic and energized with its new governing legislation, presented in Queen’s Park....”

They go on to say, “Our council and the licensed members of our college recognize the impact of this legislation in supporting veterinary teams and enabling us to serve the public with efficiency, transparency and accountability. This is good news for the public, for veterinary medicine, and for veterinary teams in Ontario,” said Dr. Wade Wright, the college president.

Dr. Wright went on to say, “The veterinary profession prides itself on our teamwork, our innovation and our passion for animal health as we deliver safe, quality veterinary medicine. This pride extends to our council which is committed to serving the public and the profession with efficiency, transparency, and accountability. It has been frustrating to see the mismatch between today’s expectations and our legislative authority. The Enhancing Professional Care for Animals Act moves us in the right direction.” Well, that’s good, okay. When the folks that you are bringing in legislation about say that this is welcome and that they’ve been involved in the process, that is a good thing.

From the ministry briefing document from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, they have highlighted that some of the key themes from the consultation period were that modern legislation is needed, continued governance in the public interest is essential, plan for future innovation, recognize team-based care, ensure flexibility, and consider needs of agriculture. Non-veterinarian practitioners can and do provide lower-risk care and engage stakeholders on future regulations. And those are some important key themes. I’m glad to know that they were part of the process, but it will be interesting for us, as legislators, to also watch this process continue, right?

We have here the piece of legislation that’s basically a fresh start, it would seem. I mean, ultimately, this is—the new name for the regulatory college will be the College of Veterinary Professionals of Ontario—a bit of a fresh start. It repeals the current Veterinarians Act and replaces it with the Veterinary Professionals Act, or the VPA. It amends the OAVT Act to align with the provisions of the Veterinary Professionals Act. All of this is kind of a clean slate, but the other issues that the government would have heard at those consultations and the other issues that I’m sure will be raised in this House, through the thoughtful debate that will undoubtedly follow, will be those next steps—one would hope.

So, Speaker, a little bit from the world of veterinary medicine. Here is an article from TVO entitled “‘A High Emotional Toll’: Why Ontario Veterinarians Are Under Pressure”—and I’m going to take this opportunity, because the bill is called Enhancing Professional Care for Animals Act, to talk about ways we can enhance care for animals. I’m also going to talk about maybe what doesn’t need to be in this bill, but what needs to be considered by the government as they’re dealing with this particular profession.

So in sharing this, we have more pets, but we don’t have more vets. As written—this is an article from November 2021: “Although the shortage of general and specialized animal care for pets and farm animals is especially acute in Thunder Bay and in many other northern cities and rural areas, vet offices are overbooked right across the province. Indeed, a dearth of vets and veterinary-support staff is an issue throughout Canada... ‘There’s a high emotional toll this is taking on people in the vet industry ... People that are in this industry, they care a lot.’” I think that we’ve heard that, and I think we all know that. Anyone who goes into animal care, that goes into, I imagine, veterinary science, they pursue that because they care.

This is a little bit of an interesting history. I mean, I think we recognize that pandemic pets were a thing, but this part of this article shares, “Things changed in 2017 ... ‘We started to see a real demand for vets. Our students were getting courted before they graduated. They were getting the jobs they wanted, where they wanted them, and starting salaries went up.’ And pet ownership started taking off around this time: Canadian Animal Health Institute figures indicate that the country’s dog population grew from 7.6 million in 2016 to 8.3 million in 2018.

“Then, during the pandemic, people scrambled to adopt. A November 2020 report ... found that 18 per cent of current pet owners had obtained a pet during the pandemic.

“COVID-19 also increased pressure on vet offices, as they scrambled to adjust to curb-side care, more cleaning, and telemedicine. Staffing availability worsened as people dealt with quarantines, kids at home, and elder care.” And that was happening across workplaces, but a lot of stress and pressure on an already pressured and stressed profession.

“As of 2020, Ontario had 5,125 licensed vets”—again, this is from 2021—“and estimates suggest that number should increase by 4 per cent a year to better meet demand.”

Then, it says, “Other long-term trends are at play: the arrival of more animals adopted from other countries, plus climate change have led to more incidents of illnesses such as kettle cough, tick-borne Lyme disease, and canine ehrlichiosis. Two kinds of tapeworm that harm dogs have been newly found in Ontario.” So as this article mentions, you’ve got a perfect storm for access challenges.

One of the things, back in 2021, that it says is that the veterinary college “hopes to expand enrolment beyond its usual 120 spots a year, but doing so would require additional funding from the provincial government.” As we’ve heard today, that is a step that is being taken. Good.

So this is a challenge that is a global challenge, interestingly. We need more spaces. We need to support vets in the work that they do, and also recognize, as we have talked about, that it’s not just highly specialized—it’s a specialized human that has to go into this line of work. It’s not only the skills, but it is, I imagine, the emotional connection.

So, Speaker, that said, I have a yucky and awful story to share. And as we’re talking about a bill, the Enhancing Professional Care for Animals Act, and part of it calls for a more streamlined complaints and resolutions process, as well as a new quality assurance program, I want to highlight a really awful story that was from St. Catharines—a practising veterinarian in St. Catharines. This is from the National Post, and this is back in 2016:

“According to the College of Veterinarians of Ontario ... a man who once picked up a chihuahua by the neck and punched it repeatedly in the face will, after a brief suspension, be fit to practise veterinary medicine. That man—seen in video footage picking up an anesthetized cat and slamming it against a cabinet, hitting a dog on the snout with nail clippers and choking another dog until it defecates—can resume treating animals in 10 months, or six if he completes a course on ‘animal restraint and behaviour modification techniques.’ The regulatory body has likewise determined that $10,000 is a sufficient fine (technically, the fee to cover the cost of the proceedings) for this man, whose abuse traumatized his patients and his staff, say former employees.

“The man is Dr. Mahavir Singh Rekhi, whose actions were secretly recorded by staff at Skyway Animal Hospital in St. Catharines ... over the course of three years and submitted to the” College of Veterinarians of Ontario “in 2014. In July, the college found Rekhi guilty of professional misconduct for demonstrating ‘consistent behaviours which are not in keeping with standards expected of veterinarians in Ontario.’”

Speaker, I’ll go on: “The problem with the decision and punishment meted out by the CVO—other than being hilariously soft—is that it assumes there is some rationality to the impulse”—I’m not going to read that; it’s too graphic. I’m going to paraphrase: to really awfully harm an animal. “There is none. And while a perpetrator might be able to learn how and when to repress those urges during a six- or 10-month suspension, no lesson could possibly remedy the ethical defect afflicting a person who would deliberately hurt an animal like that....

“Jan Robinson, chief executive officer at the CVO,” at this time, “said that she understands the outrage about Rekhi’s case but that in the minds of those at the college, a 10-month suspension is ‘a serious suspension,’ particularly considering that it has revoked the licences of only four vets over the last 20 years.”

So that’s just a piece of it. If you look at this article, which is awful—or the story is awful, I should say—as far as I know, that vet is still a vet. I can’t imagine that he would have a lot of business in that community after people knowing what he had done.

I’m going to read another bit about this from Toronto Star:

“Ontario law gives the college broad discretion to revoke a licence when a veterinarian is found guilty of professional misconduct. If Rekhi’s transgressions don’t rise to that level, what possibly could?....

“But no one is more dismayed than those who watched the abuses up close and brought the case against Rekhi. ‘We got over 10 videos of him beating the crap out of animals,’ said Jessica Hamilton, who worked as a veterinary technician at Skyway. ‘That should be enough to get his licence taken away, and he gets a little tiny slap on the wrist? And he can touch animals again in four months? It’s really messed up.’”

This article goes on to say, “For its part, the college says the penalty is strict enough. ‘Revocation is the harshest punitive penalty any college can execute, of course.... But... revocations across any profession are also exceptionally rare.’”

This piece from the Toronto Star says, “Rekhi should no longer be allowed to treat animals with the province’s blessing. The college, which is made up of veterinary professionals, says it exists to protect Ontarians’ right to safe and ethical veterinary care. In this case, it seems instead to have protected one of its own.”

I was going to read the graphic parts of the article, and I don’t want to. They’re awful. This individual was doing purposeful and very vicious harm to animals, while they were anaesthetized and otherwise. It was caught on video. His staff turned him in. As far as I know, he’s still practising in the province—maybe in a different town where nobody has googled his name.

But when we’re standing here talking about the Enhancing Professional Care for Animals Act, I want to make sure that the government is reminded that there may be very few egregious scenarios, and if something hits that threshold of egregious—as it said, a $10,000 fine which covered the proceedings and six months of a suspension—I would like to know what in this bill says it allows for a more streamlined complaints and resolution process, as well as a new quality assurance program.

In terrible stories like that, which I hope to God don’t happen ever again, the criticism was from the public that they did not feel reassured by that process. So I’m just going to leave that there for the government, because I don’t believe that vets would behave that way, but this individual was an exception and an anomaly and did not have the consequences that, standing here, in my personal opinion, I would say reflected an appropriate way of handling that.

Those of you who’ve been to Oshawa may or may not know that we are famous for lots of things. We’re famous for cars, but did you know that we’re famous for kangaroos? The kangaroo that was bounding around Oshawa, the “shwigity roo”—I don’t know; she didn’t get named. But we had a kangaroo that was on the run in Oshawa, eventually caught by law enforcement. She was able to be secured. She only got in a good—not a punch, but a strike to the vest. Everyone was unharmed. However, what the heck was a kangaroo doing hopping around in Oshawa? I mean, we’re exciting, and I invite everybody there, but we’re not really known for our outback wildlife.

I’ll tell you that I’m raising this because anyone can own a zoo in Ontario. We have a poor track record in terms of how we handle that, but the government should look into the Oshawa kangaroo and rein in the roos in zoos.

To the minister: One of the things that we’ve talked a little bit about over deliberations in debate today is the grant for large animal vets. I know, obviously, you’ve got a lot of experience with having vets on your farm, and my—we’ll say uncle; it’s a bit of a complicated situation—but Uncle Chuck, if you’re watching, which you probably aren’t, was a large animal vet in northern Ontario as well, and he does actually have a moustache as well, Madam Speaker, so you’ll be happy to know I’m channelling my inner Uncle Chuck today.

I just wanted you to talk a little bit more about what it means to be able to, especially in northern Ontario, have more large animal vets, especially as we’re looking at ways—the member from Timiskaming–Cochrane was talking about it: more animal agriculture in northern Ontario, and really seeing that as a key to unlocking a lot of the potential in the north.

Yes, I absolutely do, and I know that Oshawa, as all of our communities, has a whole bunch of pets that it loves. As I had just mentioned, we also had a kangaroo that we all claimed wasn’t an actual pet. But I think people in our community would appreciate having more access to more professionals. So if we can have more vet techs, if we can have vets with maybe some help and support, a few more vets online, that would be great.

I share a parking lot with a veterinary clinic, and it is a hopping, happening spot. Certainly in Oshawa, as everywhere, we love our pets and we want to make sure that they have access to the care that they deserve when needed. Thank you.

Questions?

I can appreciate that perhaps the member from Oshawa might not have as many farm or veterinarian concerns in her riding as we have in some other ridings, such as my riding or as the member from Timiskaming–Cochrane, but I’d like to ask her a question about veterinarians that might apply to small animals, because certainly those are common everywhere across the province of Ontario. I think that this piece of legislation would be very useful to all ridings, including the riding of Oshawa, in that it would provide more veterinarians and trained experts in that field to take care of not only farm animals, but also pets, and everybody loves their pets.

So I would like to invite the member from Oshawa to comment on whether or not she thinks the training of more veterinarians and vet techs under this legislation will be of benefit to the constituents in her riding.

Further questions?

The member from Kent—

Interjections.

Further debate?