Three-hundred thousand.

I thoroughly enjoyed the presentation from the member from Timiskaming–Cochrane. He mentioned his experience where he had had an injured animal and he had to take steps to nurse that injured animal back to health, and that kind of made him transition from a farmer to a pet owner.

I would like to hear the rest of the story. I would like to hear what happened with the animal after the animal’s leg was wounded and after it had healed. What happened to the animal after that?

I would like to advise you I will be sharing my time with the lovely member from Etobicoke–Lakeshore, my seatmate.

It has been a good chunk of debate—not bad for a Monday afternoon. I always appreciate when we have excellent discourse here in the Ontario Legislature. I’m going to just read some prepared remarks here for a second, but then I want to talk about some family members because I think it’s always important to bring a little bit more context to how a lot of the bills and legislation and things we do hit home a little bit more.

I did just want to say that the agricultural industry in Waterloo region is alive and well. According to the 2021 census, Kitchener–Conestoga is home to 107,134 people. But did you also know, Madam Speaker, that it’s also home to 111,242 pigs? My constituents are also outnumbered by chickens. Would anyone like to guess how many chickens we have in Kitchener–Conestoga?

Ontario cares about protecting the health and well-being of animals and understands the important roles animals play in our families and the important role that agriculture plays in our economy. Our government is working to increase access to veterinary care services for pets and their owners as well as farmers. Based on extensive consultations—and I want to thank the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. We heard today from members of the opposition as well that there was a great consultation on the ways to modernize the laws governing the veterinary profession and improve access to care in Ontario.

Thusly, we’re here today talking about the proposed Enhancing Professional Care for Animals Act. If enacted, this would enable the creation of a formal scope of practice for veterinary technicians that would allow them to practise to their full potential and their training and expertise. It would also lead to the creation of requirements for continuing education similar to other regulated professions. It would streamline the complaints resolution process to allow disputes to be addressed more quickly. It would increase penalties to better reflect the seriousness of actions that could harm animals and also ensure greater public representation on the council of the regulatory college overseeing veterinary professionals.

I wanted to—again, like I said—bring in some of that more local and, in this case, this interesting familial content to debate here today. I’m actually very lucky to have two family members—my Uncle Chuck, who was a large-animal veterinarian in northern Ontario who was a large part of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and worked with the government of Canada; and also my wife’s aunt, Pauline van Veen, who was a small-animal vet who worked in many different parts of the province. I actually, a while back when we had started discussions about what was going to happen with veterinary services in Ontario and looking at some of the different acts that the minister has put forward over the last little while in regard to animal welfare—we talked a lot about the PAWS Act. I brought them into the conversation, because I thought it was important.

One of the things that came up was talking about training and barriers to training. I want to commend our government and all of those who have been part of this process, because there’s a new incentive program in place that provides a maximum of $50,000 for up to 100 recently licensed veterinarians to practise large-animal medicine in underserviced areas. That is crucial to getting new folks interested in this profession—this trade, if you will—because finances are always a barrier when you’re starting new. And especially in medical professions—these are medical professions that we’re talking about—you don’t just go to school for a year, complete the program and then go and practise. There’s a lot that has to go into this. It was actually neat, because my Uncle Chuck had suggested something along these lines. How do we remove some of these financial barriers? How do we make it easier for folks to get into this profession? And we actually did it, which was great to see. Again, this is because of the fulsome consultation that the minister has put forward—and her team, of course: her parliamentary assistants and staff within the ministry. It’s great to see some of these things come forward.

I also want to talk a little bit about the 2023 budget. The government announced $14.7 million over two years, starting this year in 2024-25, to allow an increase in enrolment in veterinary schools—and we’ve heard this talked about a little bit today—to 20 new seats, which is fantastic. Seeing these new partnerships with Lakehead University and the University of Guelph—I actually had the opportunity to attend that announcement with some colleagues and the minister at the University of Guelph, and it was so well received by the veterinary community, the agriculture community, because farmers in northern Ontario and other underserved areas are now going to be able to rest easy, rest assured that, when they wake up in the middle of the night and they’re birthing calves and who knows what the night is going to entail, if they need to make a phone call and they need to talk to that vet or that vet has got to come over and assist with the process, there’s actually going to be someone on the other end of the line that’s going to be able to assist, that’s going to be able to really take a load off their shoulders.

Any of us that have agriculture in our communities and get out and talk to our farmers know that life can be pretty stressful. It’s not easy being a farmer. It’s not easy having the weight of your community on your shoulders, being out there really trying to feed your loved ones, to feed the community around you and really put your best foot forward. We’ve seen a lot of great initiatives around mental health. We’ve seen a lot more of a community spirit and a rallying around to say to your neighbours, “If you’re having trouble, it’s okay. Let’s talk. Let’s talk farmer to farmer. We don’t need to necessarily be out there airing your dirty laundry, if you will, but I’m here for you. Let’s have those discussions.”

When you take all of the sum of all the parts and put them together, we’ve really started to knit a fantastic fabric. When it comes to agriculture and especially this ministry, there have been so many great things that have been done. This is another piece of that puzzle, Madam Speaker. I think that we’re really on the right track when it comes to making sure that we’re able to put food on the table, making sure that our farm animals are happy and healthy, but also that our farmers are happy and healthy. It’s something that I am very happy to get behind.

I’m now going to pass my time over to my colleague.

It’s my pleasure to rise in the House today to join the debate on Bill 171 and the importance of enhancing professional care for animals.

Speaker, our government, under the leadership of Premier Ford, is committed towards developing a modern and robust animal welfare ecosystem with laws that keep our animals safe and their owners reassured. The proposed Enhancing Professional Care for Animals Act is part of a series of steps we’ve taken and will continue to take in this direction.

Just last month, I had the pleasure to join the debate on Bill 159, Preventing Unethical Puppy Sales Act, which was brought forward to stop harmful dog-breeding practices and impose stringent penalties on violators. The PUPS Act addressed an important policy issue spotlighted in my very first private member’s bill here in the House, called Protecting Our Pets Act.

And today, this House is taking decisive action towards updating the legislative framework that governs veterinary services in this province. The changes we are debating are much-needed to increase access to veterinary care in Ontario, but most importantly, they answer the requests that veterinary professionals and animal owners have been bringing forward for years. We have arrived here after a long journey involving multiple and meticulous discussions with stakeholders across the province. I’m proud that our government has put our shoulders to the wheel in this process.

Exactly a year ago, in May 2023, I was happy to host a round table with vets in Etobicoke–Lakeshore, with my colleague Rob Flack, who is now the Associate Minister of Housing. Then, he was the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. He was there to help lead the consultations, along with my colleague from Eglinton–Lawrence. The discussions we held on modernizing the Veterinarians Act have allowed us to stand here with a better understanding of how to strengthen the tools needed by veterinary professionals to do a better job.

Before I move further, I just want to take this opportunity to recognize those stakeholders and partners from my community of Etobicoke–Lakeshore who joined me that day in May 2023. I want to thank them for their work in providing care for our animal companions. I want to acknowledge the tireless animal welfare advocates, such as the Etobicoke Humane Society, Toronto Kitten Rescue, TinyPurring.

And I’ll give a shout-out to Dr. Spence and Dr. Hume from the Islington animal clinic, who see myself and my pets far too often. But that’s the nature of being a pet owner. We are there, and they’re always there to help—just having those conversations with them.

There is always more we can do, and I think this bill is the right step in the right direction.

Speaker, it’s 2024, and we cannot bank on a law first introduced in 1989 to protect the best interests of our pets and pet owners in this province. The Veterinarians Act needed a 2024 reboot. And that’s exactly what we’re doing here. We proposed a law that aims to strengthen governance, transparency and oversight of veterinary care in Ontario.

The Veterinarians Act does not formally recognize the role of veterinary technicians—and a shout-out to all those great vet techs out there. You do an amazing job. You calm the animals down when we bring them in. Sometimes you get to give them a treat. You weigh them. You do a lot of hard work, and I just want to say thank you for all the hard work you do. I know we’re going to give you some more work to do in the future. So congratulations for the work you do right now.

This year, the Toronto Humane Society published a study on accessing veterinary care—it’s over a 13-year period—that speaks out about the relative shortages of vets across Canada. So it’s not just an Ontario problem. Our government is aware of the shortage of vets in parts of the province, particularly in rural Ontario.

Our response, through this bill, is to recognize that vet techs are ready to step up and share the burden. It’s time, as Minister Thompson put it, to switch to a “one team, two professionals” approach to deliver animal care that is relevant to the times that we live in.

Speaker, everyone has heard me mention my two pets at home, Bruce and Edward. I have, as I mentioned, an amazing veterinarian. Actually, I have a team of veterinarians, because Bruce has a ton of problems. Sometimes, it takes a village, I say, to raise these problem animals. He has allergies; he’s allergic to absolutely everything. He was a rescue dog, so we tried to figure out what was wrong with him. Special food, special diet—this works, this doesn’t work. Vet bills go up, vet bills go up, but my goodness, do we love that little boy to death, I’ll tell you.

Though this morning, he bit me because I was trying to cut his hair, and it didn’t quite work. He won that battle this morning. So, I took some gel and I slicked it back, because that was the battle I was going to take on.

I recognize the member from Etobicoke–Lakeshore.

It was a compromise.

Now, here are some stories about an amazing veterinarian. Last Christmas, presents were wrapped, sitting on the dining room table. I said “Okay,” went out, came home to get ready for church, see wrappers everywhere around the house, realized that Bruce unwrapped all the gifts, which were chocolate: Lindor chocolate balls in mugs for the party I was going to the next day. Anyway, I missed church on Christmas Eve, and Bruce and I headed to the emergency Mississauga vet. When I got there, he was actually the “Lindor chocolate dog,” because apparently there was a list of other dogs who were also into the chocolate on Christmas Eve. Always a fun place to spend your Christmas Eve.

But you know, it’s the kindest, kindest people there, and they see you; you’re in tears. You’re kind of a mess because your pride and joy is there, and what’s going to happen? The skills that they go through—the veterinarians, the vet techs, the people at the front—just to calm you down because we’re always getting nervous and we always want to make sure that our pets are taken care of. They do such great work.

I think it was about last week or two weeks ago; Guelph was here doing a lobby day in our dining room, and I had the opportunity to speak to some of the vet techs. They were so thrilled with the legislation that was coming forward. They said it’s about time they can do that work. We talk about nurse practitioners and how they help out doctors; this is sort of a similar thing, and I’m hoping that maybe this might help some of the costs going down, because you’re going to have a larger group of people who can help maybe give that shot or help you get your food or medicine or whatever. Whatever needs to be done, I’m hoping that will help the costs come down, because I know that sometimes our veterinary bills are a little bit high for many of us all across the province.

It’s important to note that we need to recognize the work that our vet techs do in animal care, and this proposed legislation works significantly toward improving access to veterinary care in Ontario. As the minister pointed out, that’s a welcome change being embraced by veterinarians and vet techs alike. So congratulations, Minister.

While better defining the scope of practice for veterinary medicine, the proposed legislation would also streamline the complaints and resolution process to allow disputes to be addressed more quickly. This addresses the public complaint that the complaint resolution process for veterinarians has taken far too long. If passed, the streamlined complaints process would include addressing investigations, professional misconduct and suspected incompetence. There will be mandatory reporting requirements if a licence holder suspects that another licence holder’s fitness to practise may be impaired. Where appropriate, more information will be available to the public and animal owners about practising vets and vet techs.

We always want to make sure our pets are safe. They can’t speak, so we just have to trust. So I appreciate this process just in case we need it. But I do know there are amazing vets out there. So, once again, we thank them for their work.

The legislation, if passed, would enable the regulatory college to develop a formal quality assurance program which will be overseen by a new statutory committee. The committee would set requirements for continuing education and refer cases of misconduct, incompetence or impairment to the college’s investigations and resolutions committee. All this comes along with increased penalties that will better reflect the seriousness of actions that can harm animals. Fines for taking actions that could cause serious harm to an animal without being licensed by the college would be set out in legislation. That’s a steep $25,000 for an individual on first offence, $50,000 for subsequent offences, $50,000 for a corporation on first offence and $200,000 for subsequent offences—good stuff. Good stuff, Minister. These proposed changes would ensure competence of members of the profession and further increase public trust.

As I said at the beginning, this legislation is not a stand-alone act, but one in a series of steps to strengthen the ecosystem of animal care in Ontario.

Now, I have already mentioned the PUPS Act. Before that, on January 1, 2020, our government enabled Canada’s first provincial animal welfare enforcement system, called PAWS. Ontario has the strongest penalties in Canada for people who violate animal welfare laws. For this, I am extremely proud.

Now, we want our province to have a robust and dependable veterinarian capacity. We are increasing enrolment into veterinary medicine with a $14.7-million investment to create 20 additional doctor of veterinary medicine seats. To address this critical shortage in rural and northern areas, we have launched the Veterinary Incentive Program, which provides $50,000 for up to 100 recently licensed veterinarians to practise large-animal medicine in underserviced areas. For those who live in rural and northern Ontario, we certainly know those are needed.

Madam Speaker, as a member of this House, a representative of Etobicoke–Lakeshore and a passionate advocate for animal welfare, I remain committed to spotlighting this issue. If you ever see an animal in distress, please call 1-833-9-ANIMAL. That’s 1-833-926-4625. That’s a hotline that’s been put in place, and there are people out there who will answer the phone to help out.

Once again, thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak on this important legislation. I can’t wait to pass this legislation. It’s great for our animals. It’s just part of a puzzle of animal welfare success in this province. Someone told me there has never been a government who has touched animal welfare in over 100 years. It’s a different time; let’s protect our pets out there and, number one, keep our pets safe.

Mine is a rescue. He came from a well-established rescue place. Of course, there’s always a place for volunteering your time to help out those animals in need. You don’t even have to be a vet tech or a vet; you could just be anyone helping out. But we want to certainly make sure that volunteering is available for all.

Maybe you should have called a tech.

So I’m going to ask him about chickens and whether he can tell us anything more about chickens in and around his area. I know, for example, in my area of Essex county, not only do we have people raising chickens, but we also have industries processing those chickens. That is an important part of Ontario’s incredibly safe and incredibly nutritious food chain. So I want to offer an opportunity to the member from Kitchener–Conestoga to make whatever comments he would like to make with regard to that.

Questions?

Compromise. It was a good compromise.

So we’re very blessed to have a thriving poultry industry in Waterloo region, in Kitchener–Conestoga and, of course, adjacent ridings. We had a lot of opportunity to work with the Chicken Farmers of Ontario, had been out to some farms, seeing first-hand the good work that they do right from the hatcheries to raising those chicks and then into processing. We have Maple Leaf Foods in our riding as well and a lot of other smaller suppliers that then feed our families, whether that be at a retailer at a grocery store, maybe the St. Jacobs Market, or even one of the great things that we have—and a lot of other members, including yourself, will have—is a lot of great farm stands where you can pull right up to the farm and get fresh poultry.

So chicken farming is alive and well in Kitchener–Conestoga, and I’m happy to see it thriving and continuing to. This legislation will aid in that by allowing essentially more veterinarians to get out on farm and practise.

It is an honour to rise in this chamber today to speak to the Enhancing Professional Care for Animals Act, introduced by our Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

Speaker, I must say, the minister’s work on this portfolio this past three years has been incredible, to say the least. Through her leadership and the work of her past parliamentary assistants, our government has brought forward incredible reforms in this bill. This bill is another testament to that. It affects pet owners, which make up an outstanding half of all Ontario residents. I didn’t know that. Half of all Ontario residents own a pet, including myself, my brothers-in-law and many of my colleagues here in this chamber.

For pet owners, a trip to the vet is serious business. It’s not only costly, but we as owners want to know if our beloved pet is healthy and free from any serious diseases or conditions. We want to make sure that our pets will live as long as possible so we can enjoy their company, love and amazing soothing for our mental health and create memories with them for as many years as possible.

Madam Speaker, they are not only our pets, they are cherished family members. So then it is unsurprising that, just as with our family members for whom we are continually building the best state-of-the-art access to modern health care infrastructure, services and health care professionals, we pet owners also want to have peace of mind that the veterinary clinic staff are well trained and know how to properly diagnose and treat our beloved pets, that they’re able to operate a surgery well, administer anaesthesia and in more sombre circumstances, properly euthanize pets who are professionally judged to be suffering with no hope of improving their quality of life.

Let me share a quick personal story about my beloved dog Kumba who passed away last year. Kumba was my very first dog, a beautiful, smart, gentle, kind and incredibly intuitive Alaskan malamute. Unfortunately, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and even after removing her breast tumour, it became quickly apparent that cancer had spread to her lungs, brain and liver. She was very sick, coughing up blood, having trouble breathing and eventually became paralyzed in her hind legs.

At this time, I knew it was time to make the incredibly difficult choice to end her suffering. For my husband and I, it was one of the most challenging weeks of our life together thus far, but I am forever grateful that we were able to find a friendly, compassionate and professional veterinarian who came to our home in the middle of the night to ease Kumba’s suffering.

Throughout this whole journey, which took about six months and entailed many clinic visits, blood work, appointments, diagnostic imaging, consultations etc., we were extremely grateful to the staff at our veterinary clinic, both the veterinarians and the technicians, who strongly empathized with our challenges and our loss, and who I observed to be well trained to work in sensitive circumstances like this one.

Speaker, I am proud to be part of a government that is leading the way in animal welfare and advancing the veterinary profession like no other. Let’s not also forget our Solicitor General’s incredible work, leading the way in banning puppy mills, restoring the dignity and respect our dogs deserve.

We care about protecting the health and well-being of animals and understanding the important role they play in our families. With that, we are working to increase access to veterinary care, especially for rural and northern communities. With this act, we are answering the call from regulatory bodies and professional associations to modernize the laws governing the veterinary profession.

Speaker, veterinary technicians play a valuable role in our province and the current law on the books, the Veterinarians Act, passed 35 years ago in 1989—that’s the year I was born—is highly outdated, and it does not reflect the scope of modern veterinary medicine today. That is why we are modernizing this law. This law does not define the role of vet technician, which is what we are proposing to change. What was different 35 years ago is that veterinary care is being increasingly provided by a team of professionals rather than just the veterinarian. It is now one profession of veterinary medicine that is comprised of two professionals, the veterinarians and the veterinary technicians, similarly as we’re seeing in our primary care institutions where we have many health care providers working together as a team to treat our patients.

With this act, we are explicitly defining the scope of practice for veterinary technicians, recognizing the role they play in the broader care team and in the delivery of veterinary medicine in Ontario. We are making sure their line of work has as much oversight and transparency as any self-regulated profession in Ontario, which would be appropriately named the College of Veterinary Professionals of Ontario.

In line with this, we are proposing requirements for continuing education, just like with any other regulated profession, like nursing for example, to ensure the proper quality assurance. And in the same way you can launch a complaint against a physician or a nurse in Ontario through their regulatory college, this act proposes to create the same system for the veterinary profession.

Additionally, this act proposes to increase penalties on actions that foreseeably cause harm to animals and actions not regulated by the college. These include a penalty of a maximum of $25,000 for an individual’s first offence and $50,000 for any subsequent offence.

Speaker, I want to add that if any student in Ontario loves animals and wants to pursue a profession in veterinary medicine, I highly encourage them to enrol to become veterinary techs in one of our world-class post-secondary institutions across Ontario, like, for example, Sheridan College’s Brampton campus that offers a two-year diploma. And I know that these current students are excited to have their future roles formally recognized, thanks to the work of our government.

Speaker, I would also like to touch on the issue of veterinary care in northern Ontario. Of course, pet owners live across all of Ontario, including our rural communities. We understand that there is a shortage of veterinarians in these communities and this act will take action to address this shortage with two approaches: incentives and education.

Madame la Présidente, notre gouvernement a déjà lancé le Programme d’incitatifs pour les vétérinaires l’année dernière, afin d’encourager les nouveaux vétérinaires à ouvrir des cabinets pour gros animaux dans nos communautés mal desservies, et depuis, neuf vétérinaires talentueux ont été approuvés. Dans le cadre de ce programme, nous autorisons jusqu’à 100 nouveaux vétérinaires à recevoir jusqu’à 50 000 $ sur cinq ans pour ouvrir leur cabinet, et nous attendons avec impatience que d’autres candidats profitent de ce programme et de cette opportunité incroyables.

And if we are looking to grow our veterinary workforce, we rightfully need to invest in our province’s post-secondary programs, which is why this bill proposes to invest $14.7 million towards creating 20 new seats in our province’s veterinary medicine program at the University of Guelph, starting in September of 2025.

Speaker, I’d like to end off with a quote from a stakeholder who is deeply appreciative of our government’s efforts on this file. Kirsti Clarida, the president of the Ontario Association of Veterinary Technicians, writes, “This is a historic moment for registered veterinary technicians (RVTs), and I am so proud of the work we have done together with Minister Thompson to get there. This new legislation will expand scope of practice for RVTs, positioning Ontario as a future-ready leader in the regulation of veterinary medicine by enabling RVTs to participate in team-based veterinary care to the full extent of their abilities and training. We look forward to continuing to work with the Ontario government to grow our profession.”

Our government’s work on this file truly shows that no government in our province’s history has achieved this much for the people and the pet owners of Ontario. We were elected to serve the people of Ontario, and that includes the half who are pet owners, and we will ensure that their pets get the world-class care that they deserve here in Ontario.

I was just so glad to hear that, for once, we have support on all sides of the aisle, so it was actually a great pleasure to listen to the debate today, and that speaks to Minister Thompson’s leadership and all the consultations that she has done. I’m very, very proud to support this bill.

I had the opportunity to attend the public hearings on this bill. I was there for a panel that had deputations from Dr. Martha Harding—who is from the East Village Animal Hospitals, which are veterinary clinics in London, Kitchener and Hamilton that are run as non-profits—the Ontario SPCA and Humane Society as well as the Toronto Humane Society. All three of those presenters talked about the barriers to pet ownership and accessing veterinary care because the model that is enshrined in the Veterinarians Act does not allow not-for-profit corporations to own and operate veterinary clinics.

I understand that this may be addressed in the regulations, but I’m interested in hearing from the members whether that is the direction that this government is going in because it’s so important for low-income individuals to access veterinary care.

In this particular bill, it is outside the scope of this bill, but I think we’re always open to learning more about other formulas, other options, other ways to do business. But I do want to say that allowing more veterinarians to practise removes some of that red tape, and it will allow more practices to open. It will hopefully allow for some of those rates to come down, seeing more of a competitive nature, making sure that we’re seeing more specialists in certain areas and looking at expanding vet techs and making sure that they’re able to perform their duties in their clinics and alleviate some of that burden that is placed on those veterinarians who are, as we see it right now, often overworked. We want to make sure that there are enough appointments available and that we can get all animals looked after and seen here in the province.

So let’s focus on this bill. I think that this bill proves that if you do have an open, wide consultation like you said—and I think we’re all in agreement that there are good things that have come out of the consultation that the minister has led on this bill. I look forward to hearing some more opinions from opposition members over the course of debate this afternoon and focusing on this bill that we have before us today and making sure that we get this bill right.

Thank you to the member for the question. Actually, there was a member from across the way, from Timiskaming–Cochrane, that gave a list of all the new responsibilities that vet techs will be able to take on. This is really important that we’re not just relying on the veterinarian—it’s two professionals in each office or more. So we’re getting more work out of the people who are already there and who already have gone to school. They care for these animals; they love the profession. You’re not going to get into veterinary care if you don’t love those animals. That’s just part of what you do, maybe kind of like us. We wouldn’t be in this job if we didn’t love what we do, so there’s that.

But we’re also opening up 20 new seats in northern Ontario, where we’re bringing—just like when Mike Harris brought in the medical school in northern Ontario, we brought that school in so doctors would stay. We’re bringing a veterinarian school there so those vets will stay in that community—so more seats and more work for those who are already in the field.

It’s always nice to rise in the House and to actually offer the government a compliment. I want to commend them on the approach that they’ve taken with this bill. I recognize that a lot of upfronting of consultation took place, and stakeholders were widely brought in to provide some technical feedback. I think that’s fantastic because that is going to enable better legislation in the outcome.

But I want to contrast this approach to other approaches that the government has taken on other bills, bills that were perhaps more lobby-driven legislation, bills that were done in a haste and bills that were reckless and then had to be backtracked. Does the government see the benefit of using a process that is open, that is collaborative, that is consultation-driven in informing new bills that come forward? Can we expect a change in the government in their approach to developing legislation?

I just want to—if I could ask for permission to introduce a guest here in the House. I wasn’t here earlier during introduction of guests.

Ellen Hastie is here today. She is the CFO of my riding association. I just want to welcome her to the Legislature. Thank you.

Thank you to the member for Kitchener–Conestoga and my colleague from Etobicoke–Lakeshore for that wonderful presentation. Thank you for your passion for animals. I was a farmer’s son. We had a lot of animals in the backyard during my childhood. I know this bill is very important because of increasing Ontario’s veterinary capacity. It’s a very integral part of this legislation. Could you please tell us, how will this proposed legislation increase the veterinary capacity for owners in Ontario?

Next question?

Further debate? I recognize the member from London–Fanshawe on a point of order.

Further debate?

In regard to veterinarians who provide veterinary medicine, we all know they have a wide range of clients; they serve pet owners and livestock owners. So in your opinion, how will this legislation, if passed, benefit animal owners across Ontario?

Thank you for sharing your story about your dog. We all enjoy our pets, and this is an important bill for that reason.

On the weekend, I had the pleasure of joining the Pet Valu-Lions Foundation dog guide walk to raise money for dog guides across Ontario. It was in Dundas. As you would know, these dogs provide—there are vision dogs, there are hearing ear dogs, there are dogs that support families with autism and seizure response. These are families who are very vulnerable, and I did hear that even some of the dogs, if they have certain nutrition requirements, they can’t keep them with the home because the families are vulnerable and they’re struggling with maintaining their income levels.

My question to you is, these dogs will need veterinarian support, and we had a question earlier about one of the problems is that we don’t have enough opportunity for not-for-profit veterinarian options. Can you speak to how we might able do that in the province?