I rise to talk about Bill 159, preventing unethical puppy sales. We know this is a serious problem and that, in these cases, the dogs are treated simply as commodities, and it’s all about profit. We do see this happening also with seniors, I have to say, with housing and long-term care, that there’s a lot of that mixed in there as well—profit taking. According to advocates, the key piece to any statute or regulations will be on the enforcement and inspection end. I will come to talk about how that’s happening on the ground right now a little bit later.

We do know that provincial animal welfare inspectors are badly understaffed right now. We also know that the abuse of animals doesn’t begin and end with puppy mills but also with other animals that are bred illegally and sold and not kept well.

One of the things that really struck me right away with this bill—and I think there are ways to improve the bill and I think that requiring licensing is one of those ways. But I’m struck by the contradiction with the section of Bill 91 that slipped in this thing about train and trial areas, which had been actually outlawed in 1997. There were only 24 of these areas left in the province, and then all of a sudden, in a bill that was about something completely different, we have a section that allows that business to expand again. It’s a very cruel business that traps coyotes, foxes, rabbits and uses them as bait and trains the dogs to rip them to shreds. It does seem like a contradiction that some animals we care about and other animals we’re prepared to let them be ripped to shreds. It struck me as a favour to somebody, because it had nothing to do with anything else in the bill at the time.

I’d like to look a little bit at what’s going on in Thunder Bay. Robin Ratz, founder and board chair of Murillo Mutts—Murillo is a small community in Thunder Bay–Atikokan, and it’s a specialized rescue facility. She says:

“‘Unfortunately, I guess my question would be is “What are the consequences, or how are they going to find out about these puppy mills?”‘”

And: “She said there are multiple puppy mills in the Thunder Bay area, including one that Murillo Mutts had a ‘really bad experience’ with last Christmas.

“A local resident had obtained a dog from a breeder, only to find out that the pup was extremely ill.

“‘In order for us to assist people like that, we have to have them surrender their animal to get care without our vet. Unfortunately, the puppy was too sick, and died. The breeder ended up contacting our rescue, and she had a second sick puppy and promised she would get it to the vet. The next day, she called and acknowledged she had no money to pay for vetting, so we brought that puppy into care as well. Between the first dog and the second dog, fees, stuff we had to throw out because it was parvo [virus], we lost about $7,000 worth of stuff.’”

This is a volunteer rescue organization.

“She questions whether the government’s proposed crackdown goes far enough, pointing to a clause in the new legislation that would prohibit breeding a female dog excessively.”

The question is: “‘How are you gonna tell that a dog’s been bred more than three times in two years?’ she asked. ‘I don’t really think it’s going to stop. It’s going to take a lot of people getting those $25,000 fines.... It usually takes an outcry before anything happens, and by then how many animals have already suffered, and how many people, like I said, at the hands of an unethical breeder?’”

So there are definitely people in the Thunder Bay area making a living off of puppy mills.

“‘It’s just wrong to do that to an animal. Some of them just over-breed them, and they live in horrible conditions ... the laws don’t protect the dogs, so they just keep going on.’”

Further: “She recalled a local situation where provincial animal welfare services was informed about pups in distress, and visited the breeder to give advice but left all the dogs behind.”

I’m going to get into a case where there was an attempt to bring in supports to deal with the abuse of animals. This is what the ministry says: “Generally speaking, the most urgent calls are responded to on the same day, where possible, but there may be times when it takes longer to respond due to when the call may have been received or because an inspector is already responding to other urgent matters.”

This is a story that took place in Rossport, Ontario. It was a case where there were seven dogs in a house. Some of them had escaped, and there was constant barking, and so many, many people tried to reach the provincial animal welfare officers.

On September 2, OPP officers came and tried to help with the dogs. There was a “public safety issue of unattended aggressive dogs running at large and attacking each other.

“The Ontario Animal Protection Call Centre was called by numerous residents” the next day, September 3, “as the dogs in question had been left unattended in high heat for over 24 hours. The call centre staff in Sudbury could not locate Rossport when I called, despite the community having a unique postal code, and was triaged as an emergency.”

Let’s just think about this for a minute. Because the person at the end of the call for provincial animal welfare officers was in Sudbury—that’s about 12 hours from Thunder Bay and 10 hours from Rossport, and they had no idea where Rossport is. Anybody who has travelled on the North Shore of Superior would know Rossport. It’s what’s called an unorganized community, but it is very much a community and clearly a community that cared, because so many got on the phone to try and address this issue.

So on September 3, they called the OPP again and “were told the OPP would not respond as animal welfare was the responsibility of the animal welfare service. The humane society was also called and the resident was told they would not respond outside of Thunder Bay city boundaries.” Rossport’s about two hours outside of Thunder Bay so it doesn’t qualify. “As it was, the two OPP officers who responded on September 2 ... did an admirable job in capturing the aggressive dog running loose in the community....

“The situation was a total breakdown for the protection of animals that were in distress and constituted a public safety situation in an unorganized community. As Rossport does not have bylaws or enforcement officers to deal with these situations, residents must rely on provincial agencies to deliver their mandated duties....

“By not having an officer respond on September 3, they are not going to be able to view first-hand the conditions the dogs were left in (it’s like having the police show up 48 hours after a murder and allowing the scene to be sanitized).”

The other piece of this was that when they did finally reach someone, the officer said, “Well, the next day is a statutory holiday. Today’s the 4th. We’ve got a statutory holiday, so we’re just not going to come.” I can’t actually imagine anybody coming all the way from Sudbury to Rossport.

So there is a problem of not having animal welfare officers where they’re needed throughout the region.

Now, the next letter I’m looking at is from somebody who works for PAWS. He’s on leave for mental health stress, and that stress has come from not being able to rescue animals he knew were in distress. So cumulative post-traumatic stress disorder is what he’s dealing with.

He says, “Ontario public service ... has been nothing but incompetent due to me and my children having to go without pay for months at a time due to ... lack of communication with other entities.”

So, apart from the specific incidents that he’s talking about, the bulk of what he’s talking about is that this changeover from the OSPCA to PAWS has not resulted in better care; it’s resulted in worse. What we know is that the cost for PAWS is actually quite a bit more than it was before, but we’re seeing fewer results, we’re seeing fewer charges, and we are seeing traumatized workers.

So partly, he writes, “It has taken OPS a year to pay employees back for expenses” and the process at this time still had not taken place. “In Thunder Bay, where I was based since 2014, veterinarians and boarding facilities will not work with animal welfare services now because they don’t pay their bills or the processing times are ridiculous” and “this is province-wide, and their stats and information sent to the government are made up.”

Now, obviously, something like this letter is hearsay, but it does suggest that there are problems in the service that need to be addressed and need to be addressed at the Solicitor General’s level.

He goes on to say, “They were pushing inspectors to write more orders, seize more animals, and lay charges.... I’ve been doing this since 2014 and many others who were let go at the beginning because they spoke out against upper management on the legalities....” Again, I won’t go into that too much, because it’s a specific case.

But he does go on to say, “The government states they care about their staff and their first responders, but it seems to be all talk. It’s said by the remaining staff we are not saving any animals, just processing dead bodies.

“I waited five months for a warrant which, as per the legislation, I didn’t even require because the senior staff didn’t know what they were doing. I had to tell my senior investigator how to lay a charge which I had to send mine to him for approval, but they didn’t know ... how to write one....

“The warrant never came, and my partner was let go because he questioned the managers,” but he says he “was one of the best inspectors in the province.”

The point is, it’s funny that they “could write warrants in” their “sleep before ... and they were always approved by the senior justice of the peace at the courts and didn’t need a five-month approval process where animals go on suffering and dying of starvation. And yes, this is still ongoing” now. He was “finally given the approval and went to the property, and I walked into a barn full of dead and emaciated pigs. It haunts me to this day, the pain these animals suffered needlessly.”

I met that gentleman. He did come to our office, and those are stories that are very hard to hear, because he already knew that this was taking place and because of mismanagement—who knows what—he wasn’t given the means to actually address the problem and now has to live with what he saw and the pain and suffering of those animals.

“Other advocates have voiced frustration about PAWS since it was created in 2019, taking over for the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals....

“In animal abuse cases, some enforcement tools at their disposal include orders, provincial charges or criminal charges.

“But according to data obtained by CBC Hamilton through a freedom-of-information request, PAWS investigations are leading to far fewer orders and charges compared to when the OSPCA oversaw animal welfare.

“Ross, from the Ministry of the Solicitor General, didn’t give possible reasons for the drop in the number of charges ... but said the team is ‘highly trained,’ and some requests fall under the jurisdiction of police or local bylaw enforcement.”

But we saw in the case of Rossport that, in fact, there wasn’t really coverage. There wasn’t anything there to support those animals or help the people who were aware of what was happening to those animals to do something about it, because there was also no food and water for them.

From 2015 to the end of 2018, the OSPCA conducted 64,000-plus investigations and issued 16,000-plus orders, and laid almost 2,000 provincial and criminal charges. From 2020 to June 30, 2023, I believe this is, PAWS conducted at least 70,000 investigations, almost 7,000 orders, but only laid 667 provincial and criminal charges.

Now, it’s pretty clear to me in reading about the Rossport case—it’s laid out in quite a bit of detail—that charges would have been warranted in that case, but there was nobody there to actually follow through again and look after the animals.

PAWS has an annual budget of roughly $21 million, far more than the $5.75 million budget of the OSPCA. That is really the question: Why is PAWS, with a vastly larger budget, issuing fewer orders? The data suggests the province needs to provide more support for animal welfare services and be more transparent—so it might not be about more money, it might be about money better spent.

Jennifer Friedman, a former OSPCA lawyer who now practises privately says that it’s troubling to hear the drop in charges and orders, especially given what many of her clients are telling her.

What needs to change? Coulter says that PAWS needs far more than its roughly 100 inspectors to thoroughly and quickly investigate cases across Ontario. She noted that the Toronto Transit Commission has more inspectors, with 110. But the TTC is located in Toronto, so if you compare that to having 100 inspectors over the entire province, you can see why the law is not being applied even as it is without even this new law in place. She added that more training and protective measures for inspectors are also needed. I think that’s probably a good place to stop.

I do want to note and thank the member from Kiiwetinoong for his comments on the situation in First Nations communities with dogs and the lack of access to veterinary care. I was really pleased to hear about Matawa’s pilot project, and I hope that part of that pilot project is training community members to be able to give vaccinations. We know that having fully trained veterinarians available to go to communities as often as needed is difficult, even though we will be getting more veterinarians trained in Thunder Bay. One of the suggestions that’s come to our office is that if more community members could be trained to administer those vaccinations—obviously they can’t do spaying which requires a different level of skill and training, but to at least give the vaccinations, then they could be eliminating the spread of parvovirus and other parasites and problems.

In regard to the bill itself, it’s a step forward. I would like to see it have more teeth, and I’m hoping that when it goes to committee that will be possible, and that the idea of having licences for dog breeders is really thoroughly considered and hopefully put in to the legislation before it comes back for third reading. I think there’s a very practical aspect to having those licences, in that, if you go to a place, it’s easy to see a licence, it’s very quick to determine whether it’s a legitimate facility or not.

I think I’ll stop there. Thank you for the time and the opportunity to speak to this bill.

Further questions?

I really appreciate the member’s comments explaining how extremely impactful it can be when you see something that you just love so dearly being hurt.

I think a lot of times that we’re in this House, we debate bills and people out there, who are not always watching, are kind of wondering why we are talking about something like this. So I just wonder if the member can explain to those who might catch this in their searching why a bill like this is so important and why they should care about it—especially those who have cats. I have cats and we love our cats. Shout-out to Loki. But explain to us why a bill like this is just really important, why it should matter to them.

Thank you for your comments. I also hope to see similar results. The part that worries me is that—you might be right; perhaps that is why the number of charges has gone down. It’s difficult to say.

What I’m concerned about is the number of inspectors and what’s going on in PAWS, because it sounds to me like all is not well and that the cost has gone up, but the well-being of people doing the inspections is not being looked after. And then there are geographical gaps where there is no service whatsoever.

Again, it’s always in the application. Do we have the tools to make sure that the mills are stopped, that they’re found and that it’s possible to actually observe what is going on? That’s really my concern.

My friend from Thunder Bay–Superior North spoke about transparency in animal welfare services. I’m wondering if they’re satisfied with the level of transparency that this bill brings and how that will help with agencies in the Thunder Bay area.

Thank you to the member for Thunder Bay–Superior North for her presentation on the amendment to the Provincial Animal Welfare Services Act, 2019.

When I think about pets, when I think about puppies, when I think about dogs, I remember there are 134 First Nations in Ontario; in my riding, we have 31. I never really thought about this until now. I remember going from door to door; I don’t know if it was during a campaign or just a regular door to door. I remember one recommendation that I got from the community members. They said, “Make sure you take a hockey stick.” I said, “Why?” “Because of those rez dogs. Because of those dogs.” I had to actually turn back because all of a sudden, you hear barking. All of a sudden, they come together. Then, all of a sudden, they start barking at me, so I had to turn back.

Is this bill going to help to address that issue for on-reserve rez dogs and on-reserve people to make sure that they’re safe?

Thank you to the member opposite for her comments and really bringing to the House’s attention the reason for this bill. The stories that you’re telling are what we’re trying to prevent.

When I think about this bill—strengthening the inspections and the power of the inspectors when they go to sites, providing higher regulations and standards and communicating those out to the breeders and also educating the public so that these bad actors can be identified.

You mentioned the number of inspections, which actually have stayed fairly consistent, but the number of orders have declined. I think that would be my expectation as we improve the system and go through, and it will be further improved with this bill. I’m wondering if the member opposite would agree with that.

It’s now time for questions.

I think we all agree in this House that that is an issue, and I’m happy that the OSPCA is saying, “Yes, this is a good step forward.” We just feel that the bill could be stronger than it is and that it’s not fully addressing all of the issues that are there that are allowing puppy mills to proliferate.

So we need more inspectors working for PAWS, and we need to be looking at what’s going on within that organization, because there aren’t enough inspectors, but there is more money being spent.

To the member opposite: I was looking at the Toronto Humane Society, which said, “As an organization dedicated to improving the lives of animals, we applaud this push for stronger legislation against puppy mills.”

Puppy mills often fail to keep a dog with a contagious disease away from other dogs or animals. Does the member agree that dogs raised in these types of conditions need to be taken care of?

The member for Mississauga–Malton.

Motion agreed to.

Thank you to my colleague the member for Thunder Bay–Superior North for her contribution to this debate today. She did raise the concern that we have shared, I think repeatedly on this side of the House, about the effectiveness of this bill if there are not the enforcement measures in place to follow up and deal with unethical puppy mills. I understand that there are only about 100 PAWS Act inspectors, and we have heard stories of acts of animal cruelty that have not been followed up on, not addressed, because of the lack of enforcement. Can she elaborate a bit more on that concern?

My question is to the member: if she agrees with the president of the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, who said that the PUPS Act is “a welcome and important step towards protecting dogs from unethical breeders and addressing the issue of puppy mills throughout our province.”

Further questions?

I thank all in the House for giving me this opportunity to share my perspective on Bill 159, the Preventing Unethical Puppy Sales Act. Over the course of my few minutes together with all of you, I plan on doing a few things: discussing some of the dogs in my life, who underscore the importance of passing this legislation; describing the context and landscape within which puppies are bred currently in the province of Ontario; outlining some of the things that this bill does, some of which are good; and then also highlighting some of the shortcomings which need to be addressed if this bill is to ultimately pass.

I want to begin by dedicating these remarks in particular to two dogs—one, to Stewie, a stunning black Labrador, who was the ultimate gentleman, who ultimately passed earlier this week, on Monday, at the age of 14. Even to the very end, he won over our hearts by still doing a dance for his families. His long life and his beautiful temperament, in my opinion, are a testament to the loving care that he got from his parents. I believe that this bill aspires to deliver that same loving care to every dog in this province.

Another dog that recently passed away is Lexi, a most loving, gorgeous goldendoodle. She passed away just a few weeks ago from an aggressive form of cancer. She left us too soon. She was a true friend of everyone: to my own dog and to the many people in our neighbourhood, who will miss her and, again, are reminded through her beautiful temperament of the importance of a caring and loving environment for dogs around us.

There are many more dogs in my life, in my neighbourhood, in community, in Don Valley East. I want to make, finally, one special mention of my own pup, Petunia, a four-year-old half golden retriever, half cocker spaniel, who is convinced that she’s a sea otter because she loves to swim so much, and only wants to eat all day. Her full name is Petunia Wigglebottom, and she very much lives up to her name.

In reflecting on all of these dogs, it reminds me of the unconditional love that we feel from them. It is a reminder that for as much as they very much look after us, we need to look after them and we need to protect them. That protection begins very much at birth.

When I picked up Petunia, when we first got her four years ago and I held her in my hands, I could feel how vulnerable she was, how much she needed that protection. When I did the research to find a respectable, reputable breeder, I asked questions and I called, because there are many breeders out there that engage in unscrupulous practices. I wanted to know: What were the conditions in which she was raised? Who were the parents? Were they related to each other? These are, regrettably, questions that need to be asked, and far too often, there are breeders out there that can’t share the answers, that won’t share the answers. And so, urgent and pressing action is absolutely necessary.

Furthermore, in my own political work, I have encountered unspeakable cruelty to dogs. I’ve had people—and I won’t repeat the stories—who have done unimaginable things, just out of a perverse sense of pleasure and some desire to assert dominance over these innocent creatures.

I’ve also worked in northern and rural communities where breeding was so uncontrolled that there were packs of animals that ran around, and when I would go running, I’d have to carry some stones lest one of these unattached dogs run after or try to bite me. There were even, in some of these communities, one or two days a year where all of those unattached dogs were culled to prevent packs from forming. All of these things underscore the critical importance to take issue on this matter.

So as I review Bill 159, I must admit there are some things in this bill that are good. The bill defines a puppy mill for the first time. That is a good thing. It sets standards for record-keeping—again, something that is valuable and much needed—and it identifies a number of offences and implements fines. I appreciate all of those efforts.

There are, however, important things that are left out. For example, I find the definition of a puppy mill a bit ambiguous, missing out on important things such as the real standards for how much space or the specific steps that must be taken in order to ensure that that living environment for those pups is healthy and safe. I acknowledge that, in some cases, standards have been identified. But in order to ensure whether those standards are being met, there need to be inspections so that enforcement can take place. And what that enforcement actually looks like, how those inspections will actually take place is not clearly defined in this legislation.

Now, even assuming that this bill had everything necessary in terms of standards and definitions to protect animals, I have not yet seen any funding that is attached to this that could allow the inspections, and specifically, the increased inspections that are necessary to ensure some of the good things in this bill are actually operationalized. I understand, acknowledge and respect that there will be inspectors, and this is a good thing. I question, for example, what will be the mechanism for triggering inspections? Will they investigate proactively? Currently, we know that there is an inspection process in place and far too many puppy mills are operating without being inspected. So, will it be proactive or, conversely, will it be complaints-based?

I certainly worry about a complaints-based inspection process because that certainly hasn’t worked well in the current environment. Think, for example, about patients in health care who are reporting unfair or inappropriate billing. Far too many patients that are experiencing that don’t know how to make a complaint to OHIP, and far too many of those complaints are not actually acted upon. And we have also seen, within this process within long-term care, even where there may be proactive long-term-care inspections, those, regrettably, have failed miserably in protecting the residents of long-term-care homes and many long-term-care residences. So, of course I support the idea of inspections, but I am not convinced nor confident that this legislation enacts a robust and well-funded process.

In summary, I want to reflect on the fact that there is a lot that could be done. This legislation does move the needle in the right direction. But in my opinion, that needle could swing so much further, could offer so many more opportunities for protection, for inspection, for enforcement.

Finally, in my last moments, I want to reflect on one last dog, a beautiful small black Cavalier King Charles spaniel who goes by the name of Huey. He has been a little bit medically vulnerable, but through the tireless and most thoughtful care of his owner, Lauren, is able to live an incredible and fulfilling life. Let us give that opportunity to all dogs in the province of Ontario, especially those most vulnerable pups as they are first getting their start in life.

In summary, this bill does some of the right things, but could go much further, and I look forward to working with all members of this House to make it as strong as we can.

Point of order.

Questions to the member for Don Valley East? The member for Hastings–Lennox and Addington.

I’m honoured to have the privilege of speaking to Bill 159, the Preventing Unethical Puppy Sales Act, or the PUPS Act.

Let me start off: Who remembers, in 1952—probably nobody here, but you might have heard this song: “How much is that doggy in the window? / The one with the waggly tail”—Patti Page, 1952. We all heard it. Who hasn’t walked by, as a kid, a mall where you see a puppy in the window and you bug your mother, your father or whoever, “Please, can I have a dog?” Everybody wants a puppy. I get it. So, I commend the Solicitor General for taking action to protect dogs and increase the penalties for the operators of puppy mills with this bill.

Speaker, this bill is not about the good actors, the breeders and marketers of animals—puppies, dogs, cats, kittens, whatever—who ethically manage their businesses, provide proper animal nutrition and proper animal health, and follow proper breeding practices. What this bill is about is the bad actors, those who do not follow proper husbandry: again, animal health, animal nutrition and unethical breeding practices.

What I like about the bill most is there are minimum fines and maximum fines to be applied. These minimum fines include a $10,000 minimum fine for operating a puppy mill—it’s punitive—and the $25,000 minimum fine if the operation of a puppy mill results in the death of a dog. Businesses like this are unethically profitable and operate in clandestine environments. These fines are punitive and offer general deterrence value.

As someone who has worked in agriculture and agri-business his whole life, and currently still owns and operates a farm with a herdsman, owning animals is a massive responsibility. It’s huge. People cannot take that for granted. Ethical treatment of animals and breeding practices are key in the whole production of animal protein and also within our companion animal environment: how we breed these animals and who these parents mate up with. That is what is really wrong with puppy mills. We talk about a lot of animal abuse, which is right, which is understood, but most importantly, it begins with ethical breeding and breeding practices.

I’ve owned dogs and cats—mostly dogs—my whole life. I don’t have a dog today, unfortunately. I’m trying to convince my dear wife that it’s time for another golden retriever or whatever. She says I’m away too much, and we had two golden retrievers and lost the last one actually a couple of days after June 2, after the election. I miss them dearly. I’ve not even gotten to the point yet where I’ll bury the last dog. He’s been cremated and ready to go. I’ve got the tree that he was going to go by. He’d stand beside me at the house at the farm, and I miss him a lot. They’re friends and they are part of the family. It’s important that we manage this business well.

We have, in our business on a farm, barn cats. The member from Lanark–Frontenac–Kingston will understand that you need to have a good supply of cats around a barn for obvious reasons; mice can overtake. And I’m called the treat boy at the farm because I walk around with tins of special cat food in my pocket. They say, “Well, you shouldn’t feed the cats like that; they’re being well fed,” but I do, because it’s not for the kittens; it’s for the mothers, to make sure that they have good nutrition so that they can continue to care for their cats. So everyone has to have a heart when it comes to our barn cats, as well.

But I’m very proud to support this bill, and I’m encouraged by the government taking action to improve animal welfare. It is beyond my belief that people would engage in this behaviour. You know how they say a dog is a man’s or a person’s best friend? I hope that members from all parties will support this bill and we will better protect our pets from inhumane treatment. I’ve listened to the debate and I hear different examples, and they’re heinous. I can’t believe people would treat any animals like that at all.

Cleanliness standards for a dog’s living environment is key. I’ve been to the London humane society, as my friends from London North Centre and London West have, as well, and you listen to the stories as to how animals and pets end up there. It’s appalling, the standards of cleanliness that they live in and they’re taken out of. Thank God people still are willing to adopt pets, and I’ll talk about that in a few minutes. I had the London humane society join me in my consultations for the modernization of the vet act. We invited humane societies to be a part of these consultations and they offered their unique perspective that was well-appreciated by all.

This act also prevents puppies from being separated from mothers, unless recommended in writing by a veterinarian. Following proper weaning procedures in large animals or companion animals is crucial to the well-being of our animals. It includes rules around breeding; it includes standards that will prevent inbreeding, overbreeding or the breeding of dogs that are less than a year old. Again, I come back to proper ethical breeding practices in large and small animals, but especially at these puppy mills—mostly unethical.

It protects dogs by requiring the isolation of dogs or other animals where there are reasonable grounds to believe a dog is suffering from a contagious disease or would be at a high risk of developing a disease.

Failing to meet any one of these requirements in this bill makes that dog breeder an operator of a puppy mill and makes them subject to the minimum fines of $10,000 and, again, $25,000. It’s punitive, as we previously mentioned.

Ontario already has the strongest penalties of any Canadian province or territory for animal welfare violations, and these measures address these serious repeat offenders and deal with them straight-on. Currently, individuals can face up to six months in jail for committing less serious offences and up to one year for repeat offences, as well as up to two years for committing more serious offences. The new mandatory minimum fines would aim to further deter puppy mills by strengthening penalties and establishing even more severe consequences.

I should also note that the mandatory minimum fines are just that: minimum. Penalties for operating a puppy mill can go above and beyond the mandatory minimum. This is important. Furthermore, the $25,000 mandatory minimum that applies when a dog dies also applies in cases where a dog is euthanized after a vet determines that to be the most humane course of action. Again, Ontario has some of the toughest penalties around, and I’m glad to see our government acting with this bill.

Prior to this bill, our government also introduced the Enhancing Professional Care for Animals Act. I was happy to see there was widespread support in the House for this bill, which modernized the vet act. I’m pleased to have chaired that throughout the province, and we’ve seen some great results. Adding more vets to this province and more vet technicians, as we talked about, will also add in the health and well-being of your animals.

The bill targets puppy mills that have tried to churn out dogs for sale without any regard for the health or welfare of animals, and it establishes clear rules that define what practices are unacceptable for dog breeders. These clear and enforceable rules make it easier to target puppy mill marketers without creating an excessive burden for responsible dog breeders to provide their animals with the care they deserve.

While mandatory minimum fines in this bill create an even stronger financial disincentive to operate a puppy mill, when buyers are no longer willing to buy from a puppy mill, there is no financial incentive to begin with.

I’ll just conclude by saying that during COVID—I think everybody has heard the term. I was in the feed business, the animal nutrition business, and as such, we sold a lot of pet food in Canada. Again, it may be somewhat anecdotal, but the number I heard is over a million new dogs entered homes throughout the COVID period—a million more dogs in homes. Obviously, because of that, today you are seeing an increase in animal shelters. Animals that were in those homes are now being abandoned because people are back to work or don’t have the time or the financial wherewithal to manage them effectively.

I would conclude by saying that anyone who wants to buy a dog, a cat, whatever animal it may be, please consider buying one. Go to your animal shelter, understand where these animals came from, what their parents were—sire, dam. Go back in the generations, look at genetic disorders, look at how they’ve been vaccinated, how they have been managed. It is crucial because a good healthy pet makes a great family owner.

I am convinced, as we move ahead, that this bill is going to enhance the ability to act with strong measures against those bad actors in the province.

I’m sharing my time with the member for Mississauga Centre.

I certainly share that sentiment, that we don’t deserve the love and kindness that our dogs give us, which is evidently always unconditional.

Yes, I do agree with the increased fines and the steps that have been taken to better delineate offences directed towards animal cruelty. I just want to give this legislation the best chance at success, at succeeding in its overall goal and premise. If we actually want to protect dogs, we need to have the framework in place to ensure that there is adequate enforcement and the right inspection framework in place, and I’m worried that I’m not quite seeing that yet.