I’m very pleased to speak today on Bill 171, the Enhancing Professional Care for Animals Act. In my new role as parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, along with my colleague from Essex, this is the second time I’ve had the opportunity to speak to Bill 171. It’s important for me to share that I have been impressed with the work by this minister and her ministry on this proposed legislation and the extensive consultation that went into shaping this bill.

I was also fortunate to sit on the Standing Committee on the Interior. The consultation was evident during the hearing at the Standing Committee on the Interior and was noted by both the government and members from the opposition.

I need to do a shout-out to our Associate Minister of Housing and our deputy government House leader for the work that they did as PAs in consulting on this particular bill.

We heard from a number of delegates that they appreciated that the government, and the minister in particular, listened to their ideas and concerns as this bill was being drafted. As a result of that consultation, we heard a lot of support for this bill.

During their presentation to the committee, the College of Veterinarians of Ontario’s president Dr. Wade Wright and registrar and CEO Jan Robinson spoke of the college’s support for Bill 171. The registrar and CEO stated that Minister Thompson has heard the need for the modernization of the delivery of veterinary medicine in Ontario. and that Bill 171 has the opportunity to ensure a platform that responsibly brings a modern approach to the regulation of veterinary medicine. We certainly appreciated the College of Veterinarians of Ontario’s ongoing support and collaboration on the bill’s development.

At committee, we also heard from the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association. Dr. Brendon Laing, president of the OVMA, told us that they support this bill and appreciate the government’s work on this file.

The Ontario Association of Veterinary Technicians is the body that both represents and currently regulates registered veterinary technicians in Ontario. The OAVT has also been actively involved in the development of this bill. At committee, Elise Wickett, the executive director and registrar of the OAVT, told us that the “extensive consultation has culminated in a comprehensive bill that will significantly enhance access to professional veterinary care in Ontario.”

These strong expressions of support demonstrate that, if passed, this legislation would be met very positively by those who are directly impacted by it. In fact, these three organizations—the Ontario Association of Veterinary Technicians, the College of Veterinarians of Ontario and the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association—have been working with OMAFRA for more than a decade to bring about these changes. It is great to see organizations working together with government to bring forward positive solutions, so I congratulate them on those efforts.

The committee also heard from groups representing owners of both farm animals and pets.

The Beef Farmers of Ontario’s president, Craig McLaughlin, expressed the organization’s full support for the efforts made to modernize the current Veterinarians Act and, particularly, for the in-depth consultation process. Beef Farmers of Ontario noted that the relationship between a livestock farmer and their vet is a very important partnership for ensuring optimal animal health and welfare. Large animal vets certainly play a critical role in supporting the viability of beef farmers.

From my own riding, Don Badour, cow-calf director with the Beef Farmers of Ontario, and Sheila James, vice-president of Lanark County Beef Farmers, sent this: “Beef farmers in the Lanark, Frontenac and Kingston area support efforts to modernize the Veterinarians Act. It is our hope that the changes related to incorporating veterinary technicians within the act, and clarifying the roles around the scope of practice and authorized activities that can be performed by veterinarians, veterinary technicians and other professionals, will provide more opportunities for farmers to access veterinary care on-farm.”

Reg Campbell, sheep producer in Beckwith township, just down from my own farm, said: “When it comes to labour-intensive situations like conducting ultrasounds on pregnant ewes, vets can’t afford that kind of time commitment. That’s a perfect example of where a trained technician could step in and provide the service when needed during a busy season, reducing the cost and streamlining the efficiencies for the production of the herd.”

I used to raise sheep; sheep are very high needs. You need to watch for coyotes, you need to control parasites, and sheep aren’t the brightest bulbs in the box. They are always putting themselves in precarious situations, so they need a shepherd, but they also quite often need a vet.

Beef Farmers of Ontario also noted that in recent years, there has been a growing concern particularly around accessing timely large animal veterinary care. I know from my own farm experience, there are many animal care and best practice procedures that are carried out on the farm by non-vets and by the farmers themselves, who are either formally trained or trained through experience. But when a farmer needs a vet, it’s usually an urgent need and they need access to that vet. The accessibility of our veterinarians and our vet techs is important for both the animal’s well-being and to mitigate the stress and anxiety placed on the farmers themselves.

I know for some in eastern Ontario, access to a vet can be difficult, but I’m sure the challenge is even bigger for those who farm in the more remote parts of the province, in our north. I am sure my colleague from Timiskaming–Cochrane is fully aware of this challenge.

And while I mention the member from Timiskaming–Cochrane—I did have the pleasure of visiting his part of the world to attend the Earlton Farm Show, and I want to thank him for the time he took out. I also want to do a shout-out to Norm Koch, who is an integral part of the organization of the Earlton Farm Show—both great ambassadors for farmers in the north.

Other agricultural groups who sent in written comments on Bill 171 said similar things. The Chicken Farmers of Ontario support the bill and talked about their reliance on veterinary professionals to control the spread of diseases like avian influenza. I’ll quote from their written submission: The Chicken Farmers of Ontario thank and appreciate the government of Ontario “for recognizing that veterinary care is delivered in a team-based approach—formally acknowledging the role of veterinary technicians—as this will help alleviate the pressure on the limited veterinary resources in rural areas and improve access to veterinary services, and ultimately, support reaching the goal of responding promptly and efficiently to mitigate potential disease spread.”

General farm organizations like the Ontario Federation of Agriculture and the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario also support this bill. I had the opportunity to speak to both of these when I was in Earlton. Drew Spoelstra, president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, showed his support during the hearings when he said, “We applaud the government for acknowledging that modern-day veterinary care is delivered using a team-based approach. Bill 171 does an admirable job of reflecting the true nature of today’s veterinary practices and in acknowledging the vital role of veterinary technicians in delivering quality care to the province and animal population.”

The Christian Farmers Federation wrote in to the committee saying that they supported the bill and the proposal to bring veterinary technicians together with veterinarians under the College of Veterinary Professionals of Ontario. In their written submission, they said, “We see significant benefits for all animal owners, especially for livestock farmers, in having both professions recognized, licensed and regulated under one professional body.”

Veterinary care for farm animals is important, but we realize that animals other than livestock require veterinary care. Humane societies were also consulted on this bill and spoke to the committee.

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals: During the committee hearing on Bill 171, the SPCA’s director of government relations, Drew Woodley, spoke about the organization’s key priority in promoting greater access and availability of veterinary care throughout Ontario. Mr. Woodley stressed that accessing veterinary care is increasingly becoming a challenge for individuals and families who are caring pet owners. To this point, Mr. Woodley said the Ontario SPCA was happy to support Bill 171, noting, “This bill makes important changes to how veterinary care is governed in Ontario, which will hopefully improve access to care throughout the province.” He also described how important it is to recognize the training and skills of veterinary technicians—supporting the move to create a governance model that respects their contributions to the practice of veterinary care. We appreciate that the Ontario SPCA spoke in support of Bill 171, because safe and accessible pet care is important to the more than 50% of Ontario households that have a pet.

Speaker, having the support from both agricultural groups and the Ontario SPCA and Humane Society is a testament to the thorough consultation process that was undertaken by the minister and the team at OMAFRA.

In closing, Bill 171 rests on the shoulders of all the people who chose to engage to make sure that in Ontario, we have the best professional care for animals, both in our homes and on our farms.

Once again, I want to thank everyone who took part in the consultations and everyone who appeared before or wrote to the committee on the interior. Without their input, we wouldn’t be where we are today, debating this bill designed to help enable enhanced access to veterinary care for all animals in Ontario.

With that, Speaker, I’ll turn it over to my colleague from Essex.

I’m pleased to follow my colleague from Lanark–Frontenac–Kingston to speak about Bill 171, the Enhancing Professional Care for Animals Act, 2024. I’d like to start by recognizing the work that the minister has done on this important piece of legislation and her leadership in guiding us along the road to where we are today.

Speaker, veterinary medicine has been regulated as a profession in Ontario since 1877; that’s 147 years now. Veterinarians were one of the first of the five regulated professions in Canada.

As the minister said, the Veterinarians Act was last updated in 1989, 35 years ago. A lot has changed since that time, particularly with developments in technology.

As the minister described, the bill proposes to bring the veterinary technicians under the same college as veterinarians and rename that college the College of Veterinary Professionals of Ontario.

The proposed changes in Bill 171 are designed to increase access to vet care by letting the college better define a broad scope of practice for veterinary technicians. The proposed legislation would also streamline the complaints process, better define the scope of practice for veterinary medicine, and improve transparency. And, if passed, this bill would align oversight of the veterinary profession with that of other regulated professions in Ontario—both health care professions and others like architects, accountants, lawyers and teachers.

The Ontario Veterinary Medical Association’s president Dr. Brendon Laing, its CEO Mr. John Stevens and past president Dr. Matthew Richardson congratulated and extended appreciation to the ministry for its hard work on the development of this bill and for the improvements being proposed for the profession and animal care.

Modernizing the profession will make it more responsive to public expectations around governance, transparency, oversight and, most importantly, trust. Like many regulatory bodies in Ontario that oversee a profession, the veterinary regulatory college operates based on a self-regulation system. Members elect peers to serve on the governing council together with non-licensed individuals appointed by the Ontario government.

This bill, if passed, will expand the council of the newly renamed College of Veterinary Professionals of Ontario to include vet techs and faculty members from both a veterinarian program and vet tech program, as well as more public representatives.

The principal object of the college is to regulate the practice of veterinary medicine and to govern members in accordance with the act. This bill would also add a new object of the college: to work with the minister to develop strategies to “ensure the people of Ontario have access to adequate numbers of qualified, skilled and competent veterinary professionals.”

The regulatory college overseeing veterinary professionals has expressed its alignment with the proposed changes that aim to enhance ministerial oversight of the regulatory college’s governing council—something the current college is asking for to be more transparent to the public—and bring more voices to the council of the regulatory college, including a greater role for public appointees, to ensure public perspectives are reflected, and spaces on the council for veterinary technicians and academic members.

The proposed changes would also set out a new name for the regulatory college, to reflect its role in overseeing two categories of veterinary professionals within a single veterinary profession. If Bill 171 passes, the college will be known as the College of Veterinary Professionals of Ontario.

Like any legislation in place for decades, it’s important to revisit it to ensure it continues to serve its purpose efficiently and effectively. It is crucially important to consider, in these proposed changes, the needs of veterinarians, veterinary technicians, other animal service providers, the public and the agriculture industry.

The ministry has consulted widely on this proposed legislation, and the college will continue to consult as the regulations are developed. In order to ensure that happens, there is a requirement that consultations and collaboration between the regulatory college and other professions providing animal care is built into the proposed legislation.

An important aspect of the proposed changes is about quality assurance. If passed, the legislation would enable the regulatory college to develop a formal quality assurance program, which will be overseen by a new statutory committee. This change aims to better ensure continual learning and competence of members of the profession. The quality assurance committee would set the requirements for continuing education and refer cases of misconduct, incompetence or impairment to the college’s investigations and resolutions committee.

The proposal mirrors what is currently in place for professional regulatory colleges in human health care and other self-regulated professions. This is designed to maintain public trust and assurance in the profession, as well as ensure all active veterinarians and veterinary technicians are up to date on the latest developments in animal care.

In addition to governance and quality assurance, the proposed changes would bring about a streamlined complaints and resolution process. This is being proposed because the ministry has received several letters over the years complaining about how long and drawn out the complaints process can be. The complaints process was also raised by veterinarians during the consultations. This improved process would include the components dealing with investigations, professional misconduct, a member’s fitness to practise, and suspected incompetence.

The proposed changes would clearly enable a greater amount of information about a licence holder to be collected and, where appropriate, posted on the public-facing register.

Like other regulated professions, this would also allow for the college to post information about its members. This is intended to allow animal owners to check whether the veterinarian or vet tech is a member of the college in good standing.

This bill also proposes mandatory reporting requirements, which would require any member who suspects that another member’s fitness to practise is impaired to report that fact to the college. There would also be legal protections for members making such reports in good faith. Such a report could be used to bring about an investigation by the college if it is felt that there is a need to look into a matter further or potentially discipline a member.

This bill, if passed, would also increase penalties to better reflect the seriousness of actions that harm an animal. Fines for taking actions that could foreseeably cause serious harm to an animal without being licensed by the college would be set in legislation and would carry fines as follows: up to $25,000 for an individual on first offence and $50,000 for a subsequent offence; up to $50,000 for a corporation on first offence and $200,000 for a subsequent offence. Maximum fines for practising veterinary medicine without a licence would increase to the same levels.

This proposed legislation also would give the college the authority to mandate that vet clinics have malpractice insurance, something that is currently not mandatory.

Ontario needs modernized legislation that embraces contemporary approaches to professional regulation and governance; in other words, one profession, veterinary medicine, comprised of two professionals, veterinarians and veterinary technicians, serving the public interest. We feel that we have better reflected that reality in this proposed legislation.

These proposed changes are part of our broader efforts to support success for Ontario’s agriculture and food industry and to streamline and simplify processes for those doing business in Ontario.

Modernizing the legislation that oversees veterinary medicine will better support all animal owners. We feel strongly that these proposed changes will help to bring about a veterinary profession that is more responsive to public expectations around governance, transparency and oversight.

The new legislative framework we propose aims to take a balanced and risk-based approach to the practice of veterinary medicine, while continuing to protect animal health and well-being. We are confident these proposed actions will help us keep growing Ontario together.

I’d like to also take this opportunity to pay homage to a very special individual in my riding, the riding of Essex. This individual was a great contributor to his community in so many important ways. I think that this individual very much represents and reflects his chosen profession, the veterinary profession, and probably stands as a great example to others to follow: Dr. Richard Barnett.

I’d like to tell you a little bit about Dr. Barnett. He was the son of individuals who were part of the greatest generation, as we like to refer to them. His father served in World War II and was on active service for four and a half years in Sicily, Italy, France, Belgium and Holland.

Dr. Barnett always began his visits with a joke, and others who were in the practice and retired from the practice agreed that he was always a pleasure to speak with.

He once agreed to visit a pony gifted to a family, as it was quite sick, and even though he was not practising at the time, he was willing to give of his time and his professional efforts to ensure that pony stayed well.

Others have said about him that he played a very important role on a lot of farms. This is a great show of support to someone so important to farm operations. He was called a fine mentor, someone who took others under his wing and was willing to share his experience and his knowledge with others for the benefit of the community and of the profession.

People who met Dr. Barnett were not just his clients; they were like family. He spoke about how his mentor went out of his way to help those in need of veterinary care, but also might not have been able to fulfill the financial obligations that went along with that, and he went above and beyond, making sure that people were able to get the veterinary care they required, regardless of what their financial circumstances were.

Dr. Richard Barnett was a man who set the example for others to follow. He practised so long, it was said he had the oldest telephone message in the business.

He served as the president of the Essex-Kent Veterinary Association and as treasurer for the Ontario Association of Swine Practitioners.

Dr. Barnett said this of his career and his life: “I have been blessed in so many ways.” And when he talked about his youth and being educated in a one-room schoolhouse, which was next door to his family farm, he said this: “It was a great time to grow up.”

So I’d like to take this opportunity to pay homage to Dr. Barnett, his contributions to the community and his contributions to the profession, and encourage all members to vote in favour of this act, which will improve veterinary professions and veterinary care in the province of Ontario.