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.

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.