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.

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.

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.