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.

Thank you very much.

Interjection.

I thank the member for his comments and the stories about the pups. I mean, one of the comments that has certainly echoed across this chamber today—and I’m not sure who said it earlier—was humans don’t always deserve the love that the animals in our lives have given us. To that end, sir—to the member—I ask the question of, do you agree with the increase and the enforcement of the higher penalties for the abuses mentioned within this bill?

Thanks to the member from Don Valley East. I appreciate the fact that you started your comments off with personal stories and also saying that you want this piece of legislation to be successful. We do know that the only way that legislation can be successful is in the application and the enforcement of these rules. We are concerned, based on, after the PAWS Act was passed, between a three-year term, OSPCA inspectors issued almost 16,000 orders, but in the same period, between 2020 and 2023, the PAWS inspectors only laid 6,970 orders. So there is clearly a problem around enforcement.

Do you think this legislation will address that? Because if not, then we’ll have good words and good intentions, but it won’t be successful.

The changes proposed in the PUPS Act will prohibit the harmful dog breeding practices most often associated with puppy mills. It’s helping out in doing many things: breeding a female dog that’s less than a year old, failing to keep a dog with a contagious disease—and many more things in this.

So, my question to the member is very simple: The Preventing Unethical Puppy Sales Act, if passed, would restrict unhealthy breeding practices regarding the proximity of kin. So, is this member going to stand up and support this bill with us?

I recognize the member for Mississauga Centre.

Thank you to the members who just spoke. My question is to my friend from Elgin–Middlesex–London.

I was interested in your comments about the Humane Society of London and Middlesex and also in particular your comments about these puppy mills. I did want to ask, do you think it would be adequate—would it not make more sense to ensure that all dog breeders are licensed in the province of Ontario, thus being able to make sure that there are standards in place for each and every one of them?

Questions, now, to the members who just spoke?

First off, I’d like to say to the member who was speaking about how excited her dog was to come get her, we had a cat for about 18 years that we lost last year. We got a new cat, and I can tell you, undoubtedly, I’ve never received that kind of excitement from a cat. He very efficiently ignores me.

Interjection.

We heard the member speaking about the consultations that have gone on and some of the comments that have come from people like the SPCA and other groups. Could the member please elaborate on how the government intends to continue the consultation on the regulations for the PUPS Act?

Next, the member for Hastings–Lennox and Addington.

Questions?

That’s a good question. I guess when I take a look at those who buy their dogs through breeding associations, through breeders, they’re registered through the kennel club. They do a really good job of that. Their animals have to be registered. The parents’ and the females’ lineage has to be documented.

So again, as I said in my remarks, really what we’re talking about here are the bad actors. They’re unethical. They’re clandestine. They hide in the weeds. To find them and ferret them out and fine them is what we need to do, so let’s not make it punitive to the good actors; let’s let them continue to self-regulate, like they do a wonderful job of doing.

Again, I think this bill highlights the minimum fines and raises them. If we can hurt them financially, I think that’s the most important part here. If we hurt them financially—that’s why they’re doing it anyway.

I think one of the great things we did in this House recently was pass the modernization of the vet act. We can talk a lot about puppy mills, and I think it’s important, and I’ll digress a little bit, but I think adding more spots for veterinarians and, more importantly, creating an environment that will allow our veterinary technicians to do a better job of animal care will go a long way in helping dog owners, pet owners, manage their companion animals very well. I think it complements what we’re trying to do here.

To not do this bill would hurt the good work we did in the modernization of the vet act, and I stand convinced that that’s going to create some great results. At the end of the day, I would recommend a good dog. Check out the parentage, check out the lineage, make sure animal health is in order and genetic abnormalities aren’t there and you’ll have a good friend for a long, long time.

That being said, my primary care and concern is the ethical treatment of these animals, the care, whether it’s making sure animal nutrition—we provided, in my former life, feed, animal nutrition, for exotic animals at the Toronto Zoo. Done properly and ethically and managed in the best way possible with good management practices, it’s done very well. It’s when it’s not done well, so as long as the zoo is following the letter of the law and practising good animal health behaviour and animal nutrition standards, I’ll continue to support them.

My question is to the member for Elgin–Middlesex–London. I’m sure that he has been following in the media the legal battle that’s going on right now between Reptilia at Westmount mall and the city of London, because the city of London does have a prohibition on keeping exotic animals in captivity and was using their bylaw enforcement power to prevent Reptilia from setting up displays at Westmount mall, but the zoo is saying that it can go ahead because it has a provincial licence for a private zoo. That’s very concerning for people who care about the welfare of these exotic animals that are being displayed at the mall.

So I wonder if the member can commit to using this bill to consider amendments that will help ensure the protection of exotic animals, to actually prohibit exotic animals from being held in captivity.

My question is to the member for Mississauga Centre. Thank you for your presentation. It’s good to hear about your pets.

My question is about the issue with wildlife that are kept in captivity: in zoos, in people’s homes. Unfortunately, in Ontario, their animal welfare is not properly regulated. There’s no enforcement. There’s no inspection. I’m wondering if this government is interested in introducing amendments or changes to ensure that wild animals kept in captivity can have some animal welfare standards as well.

Thank you for that question. As the member knows, through the committee process and our proposed amendments, there will be opportunity for stakeholder feedback and to hear back from the public. The proposal has also been posted on Ontario’s Regulatory Registry as another avenue for feedback to be provided.

I really do think that this committee will be oversubscribed because I’m sure so many people want to come and talk to us about their love of animals and what more we can do as a government and as a Legislature to protect our vulnerable animals. Because they don’t speak, so we have to speak for them.

I really look forward to those consultations. I think it will be a lot of fun. In fact, Speaker, I think we should do a “bring your dog to Queen’s Park” day for all the members and do a nice little walk. Wouldn’t that be fun? We should do that, Speaker. What do you think?

My question is to the Associate Minister of Housing. First of all, I would say that as a pet owner, and we’ve talked a lot about our pets today, I need to get my cat’s name into the Hansard, which is Ellie. That will thrill my daughter to absolutely no end: that my cat is in the Hansard now. My daughter is in Hansard, but she’ll be excited about the cat.

But she’s also very excited, as is my son, about every puppy they see and every dog they see, and we are in the market for a new dog in our house. I have to explain to them—because they would take them all—that there are some bad actors out there, and as much as every puppy is undeniably cute, they may have been bred in some pretty terrible circumstances.

So a question to the associate minister on what you perceive the risks of not moving forward with this bill being.

It’s always an honour to rise in this House to speak on behalf of the great people of Toronto Centre. In particular, today, I’m pleased to speak on Bill 159, Preventing Unethical Puppy Sales Act.

I am very pleased to see a bill of this nature appear before us. Like many who have spoken before me—this House seems to be filled with animal lovers and, in particular, dog lovers; I count myself as one of them. Having had three dogs in my life, one rabbit, two cats, three turtles and 31 tropical fish—at many different times, I’ve had a menagerie. And I can tell you, as we all know, they deserve our protection.

That’s why I think this bill is important. I look forward to seeing it go through committee and seeing what else comes from it, including perhaps some amendments to further strengthen it.

When I was contemplating what I wanted to say about the bill, I reached out to constituents on social media, as we all do sometimes. I wanted to hear from my constituents, to see what they had to say about the issue of banning puppy mills in Ontario. Very proudly, I want to let you know that many of my four-legged constituents got their humans to respond on their behalf and to let me know that they strongly support seeing the protection of animals—especially puppies being banned from abuse.

We heard from:

—Cooper, a rescue chihuahua pug and the mascot for the St. James Town Residents Council;

—Misha, a very sweet basset hound who loves hanging out at the Cherry Beach dog park and all the other east end neighbourhood parks between Corktown and St. James Town;

—Rocco, an eight-month-old goldendoodle rescued from a puppy mill, who has some health issues, but those issues that came from the puppy mill overbreeding don’t keep him down, and he just keeps on going;

—Zenia, a rescue dog from St. Lucia who lives in the Village and loves Barbara Hall Park and Riverdale Park;

—Rocky, a rat terrier adopted from the local Toronto Humane Society, who does get nervous from time to time, but she is curious and loves to go for walks around Regent Park;

—Louise, a rescue miniature pincher mix from Texas, who loves playing with her doggy friends at Toronto Centre’s off-leash dog parks.

I was very pleased to be working on the expansion and the improvement of dog infrastructure when I was at the city of Toronto as a city councillor. I count that as some of my most proud moments.

I could go on, Speaker, because 50-plus canines actually had their humans write into us, and I might just come back to it, because they’re too cute to ignore.

But I do want to get to the substance of the bill, because I think that is important and why we’re here. This bill contains several changes to the Provincial Animal Welfare Services Act that serve to protect dogs, which I support and many of us do support in this House. Some of these changes include:

—banning the breeding of a female dog more than three times in a two-year period, or breeding more than two litters from a female dog’s consecutive heat cycles, as well as banning the breeding of a female dog that is less than 12 months old;

—banning the breeding of a female dog for the first time before its second heat;

—making it illegal to fail to isolate a dog from other dogs or animals where there are reasonable grounds to believe that the dog is suffering from a contagious disease or is at high risk of developing a contagious disease, including failure to ensure there is no contact with objects, including food and water containers, that are used by other dogs or animals, except,

—separating a puppy from its mother or substitute mother before the age of 56 days, except as otherwise recommended by a veterinarian in writing for health reasons;

—instituting a minimum penalty for operating a mill, set at $10,000;

—instituting a minimum penalty of $25,000 if the mill operation leads to the death of a dog, or of euthanasia by a veterinarian.

This is all very commendable, and I think that this is a fantastic foundation for us to build upon, and I hope that we can do that work at committee, because I know that when the bill goes to committee, there are a number of people who still want to see improvements to the bill—sorry, we’re on second reading. But the advocates want us to do more, so I wanted to give my platform to them, as I share their comments with the House today about what more animal welfare advocates want to see in this bill and how they think that we can work collaboratively to improve this piece of pending legislation.

They pointed out that breeding that takes place in the province is done under conditions that will now be prescribed, and that the ideal breeding conditions that could lead to pure and in-demand breeds being sold by pet stores is almost non-existent. So, clearly, that is one section of the bill that could see a significant improvement, because unless we are able to name the problem, we won’t be able to fix the problem.

According to the animal rights and welfare advocates, the key piece to any statute or regulation will have to be placed on enforcement and inspection. As we all know, because we’re lawmakers, unless we see adequate investments to inspection and enforcement, then any bill is really not worth a lot if we actually cannot make it do what we want it to do.

The bill doesn’t include funding to better resource or equip provincial animal welfare services, or PAWS, inspectors, and so the question will be, who is going to enforce the standards? If the bill is not improving the enforcement and investigation, that is certainly one area of improvement.

Currently, provincial animal welfare inspectors are badly understaffed. This has been widely reported now. The CBC has recently put forth a fairly lengthy investigation where they go deeper into the story, where they go behind the scenes to be able to understand what is wrong with this system and why we see that inspections pertaining to animal welfare have gone significantly down.

Under the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, the OSPCA inspectors issued 16,148 orders and they laid 1,946 provincial and criminal charges between 2015 and 2018, while PAWS inspectors only laid 6,970 orders and laid 667 provincial and criminal charges between 2020 and 2023. So, the animal advocates are saying the government is talking a big game about protecting animals, and they’re asking you to do a lot more.

How can we do more? How can the government work towards giving the real teeth to the legislation if there aren’t adequate staff who are properly trained and on the field to then investigate and enforce? I recognize investigation and enforcement takes time. This is not something you can do over the phone. You’ve got to go in there like the CBC investigative journalists to go and dig deeper. Then, the charges are laid, and then at some point in time, you’ve got to deal with prosecution, because fines don’t just happen.

That’s why, when the CBC did an entire investigation into the drop in cases, advocates who then spoke to them have said PAWS is so understaffed that they often show up and take action only if the media shows up and there’s a public outcry. Now, clearly that’s not a winning condition, and that’s not going to make the legislation more effective. So, we have to listen to the advocates who are part of the system of democracy that holds each and every single one of us accountable, because they’re the ones who are pushing for the change.

Ashley DaSilva, who is the founder of the Hamilton-based group Fur Warriors, said that the inspectors need more support from the province.

“As a result, she said, it can feel like PAWS will only take action when there’s enough public scrutiny.”

So we’re forcing citizens to actually go off and protest and at their own time and energy lead the charge with the media.

“She pointed to a video that appeared to show a Hamilton man whipping his dog, Merlin, and dragging the dog down a sidewalk in late June.

“It took a week for police and PAWS to remove the dog from the owner, and he now faces provincial charges. But” Ms. DaSilva “is doubtful any of that would have happened without the media attention and public pressure.”

They state, “If you don’t cause a stink, nothing happens. What happens to the dogs that don’t have videos?”—which I think is a really important question. What happens if the act of cruelty is not caught by someone who has a camera? We need to have inspectors on the ground and in the field doing their work.

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

“‘There’s a great deal of frustration.... They’re hoping animal welfare services would do more.’”

Amy Fitzgerald, University of Ottawa professor and animal welfare researcher, said it’s “particularly unlikely” the drop in PAWS charges and orders was because there were fewer animal abuse incidents. She pointed to how domestic violence was rising during the pandemic.

It’s also important for us to note that PAWS does not necessarily share the calls that it receives and that inspectors may be using more discretion when issuing orders or charges. So really, you don’t have the type of scrutiny or even audit procedure that one needs to have in order to know whether or not the system can be running more effectively.

It has also been noted that PAWS needs more than its current staffing allocation of 100 inspectors to thoroughly and quickly investigate cases across Ontario. Just think of it: 100 inspectors for a province as large as Ontario. The contrast to that is that the Toronto Transit Commission has about 110 inspectors just for our transit system, which is a much smaller geography that has to be covered. It has been commented on that more inspectors need to receive additional training, and they need to think proactively on how they can prevent the matters of animal abuse.

“Michèle Hamers, campaign manager at World Animal Protection Canada, said the wording in the province’s legislation is too broad and impacts what inspectors can do on the scene. For example, the legislation defines distress as an animal being:

“—in need of proper case, water, food or shelter;

“—injured, sick, in pain or suffering;

“—neglected, abused or subject to undue physical or psychological hardship.”

She further goes on to unpack the guidelines, where she provides that “guidelines defined for various species and that only allow various animals to be kept as pets. Those steps” should and “would make the system more proactive.”

Also highlighted for us was the need for more transparency, one of the missing key drivers that led to PAWS being taken over by the privately run OSPCA. Camille Labchuk, executive director of Animal Justice, who I had the esteemed pleasure of working with when we worked on the national shark fin ban of importation and use of shark fin products in Canada, an advocate who is a leading voice on animal rights, welfare and well-being in Canada and internationally, has said this about the case of transparency when PAWS took over: Things have “gotten far, far worse.”

Ms. Labchuk says Animal Justice has filed many complains about Marineland, a theme park in Niagara Falls, but never heard back from the province. If you wanted to demonstrate that you care about animal welfare, there’s a great example right there that you can take action on. Why is Marineland still operating?

“Labchuk said PAWS should have a website, issue an annual report each year and, if it’s in the public interest, issue media releases when it issues orders, seizes animals or one of its investigations leads to charges.” Tell us what you’re doing. If you’re doing such a great job, share the news as broadly as you can.

“Labchuk also said PAWS legislation needs more regulations governing animal breeding, farms, zoos and other industries.”

It is important for us to be able to see the baseline of productivity. If we don’t know what is happening, and you have people who are saying that not enough is being done—and these are not just random people; these are people who have dedicated their existence to protecting animals and animal welfare—there is obviously room for improvement.

It’s important for us to also recognize that this government has not been treating all dogs equally. There are some dogs you want to protect and other dogs you don’t. In fact, this government moved to regulate and expand legal pen dog hunting, a practice that was in the process of being phased out. Many advocates feel that it’s unsafe for dogs and it is unnecessarily cruel to the prey of animals, who are hunted in these pens with no way to escape. And yet the government went out of their way to include a clause in Bill 91 to more deeply enshrine those types of facilities into law, in essence legalizing animal cruelty.

Two animal rights organizations have requested a review of that legislation. So there will be more to be discussed about that because that story is not going away and clearly, if lawyers have deemed that they have enough of a case to go forward, this is going to be a very costly and time-consuming process for the Ontario government once again.

There is so much more in Ontario that can be done to increase animal welfare. In February of this year, Quebec banned all non-essential and cosmetic surgeries on pets, including ear cropping, tail trimming, vocal cord removal and cat declawing. These regulations in Quebec are just a formalization of an already widespread rejection of those surgeries among veterinarian professionals.

And it’s not just Quebec. All over the world, these surgeries have been banned or actively discouraged. Ontario is now the only province in Canada that does not ban cat declawing. It’s very difficult to find a veterinarian willing to do the procedure, but it’s not because it is banned by this government but because of veterinarians’ own professional expertise and their own code of conduct and their compassion. Without a formal ban, you can still find someone—a surgeon—to do the procedure.

Quebec is by no means perfect, but Ontario could do more by following their lead and studying what they’ve done well. The Quebec legislation also bans the euthanasia of an animal by inhalation, leashing an animal without a collar, mating animals whose sizes are incompatible and feeding meat to pet pigs. All of these measures in Quebec make a lot of sense, and they have done it after consultation and review of subject matter experts.

So, clearly there is much more that can be done here, and I want to extend a massive, big thank you to all of the advocates working behind the scenes to increase animal welfare and protection in Ontario. There are countless organizations that advocate for the humane treatment of animals, for them to be safe, to be clean, to be treated when they’re sick, to be provided with the enrichment that they need to grow and learn, and given the love and care that we all know that they thrive on.

Believe it or not, your constituents will agree with you and the animal advocates if you work together to take those actions. Just as I’ve noted, many of the canines in my community had their humans write in to tell us that they support the legislation, but more can be done.

So, as I conclude, I just want to continue to give a little bit more love and a shout-out to both the canines out there, but also to the workers and the volunteers who keep Ontario’s shelters, rescues and fosters going. It’s often heartbreaking and delicate work to get an animal who has been through so much abuse and trauma, and to watch them try to be able to love and trust again.

This happened with my own dog. Her name was Tara. She was a black Lab-pit cross. She had been adopted and returned to the Toronto Humane Society three times by the time I picked her up. I don’t know what it was, but I had to take her home. When I read that she had won the award for being there the longest—at the humane society—with very little dog experience in my background, I decided to take home this 65-pound dog and I loved her to the very end.

We all have stories similar to that on why pets make the difference for you, and you can stand up for them by doing the right thing and improving the legislation.

Questions to the member for Toronto Centre?

I’ll just start by suggesting to the member from Hastings–Lennox and Addington that he take some advice from our associate minister and put those tins of food in his pocket. Then your cat will pay attention to you.

One of the things I wanted to talk about is—again, back to the associate minister, who has got some expertise on animal nutrition—the positive parts in this. There are a lot of elements in it to strengthen enforcement, with bigger fines and bigger penalties—enforcing and making the bad actors pay attention, hurting them where it hurts: in the pocketbook.

But also on the positive side, I’d like to get your comments on identifying what good best practices are for a responsible breeder, and educating the public on what those are so they know the advantages of purchasing an animal from a responsible breeder, and those elements that are within the bill and how you think those will help with reducing the number of—hopefully someday eliminating—the bad actors in the puppy mill business.