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.

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?

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 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.

It’s an honour to rise today and speak in support of Bill 171, Enhancing Professional Care for Animals Act.

Speaker, it’s an important act to modernize. We know there’s a shortage of veterinary services in the province of Ontario, and this act takes an important step of addressing that shortage, partly by modernizing the regulatory framework for veterinarians, but most importantly, modernizing the regulatory framework for registered veterinary technicians. I think it’s important to expand the scope of practice for vet technicians to better enable them to relieve the burden on veterinarians and to offer more team-based veterinary care in the province of Ontario. I’ve been a big advocate for team-based care for people, and we certainly need team-based care for animals as well, and this act takes an important step to helping us achieve that.

I want to take a few moments to talk about some ways that I believe we need to address the shortage of veterinarians in the province of Ontario. Right now, we’re not even graduating enough veterinarians to cover the number of veterinarians that are retiring. And the government made some important steps to address this problem by expanding the number of veterinary placements through a partnership between the University of Guelph and Lakehead University, increasing the number of vets by 20 each and every year over the next number of years. This is an important step in the right direction, especially when we live in a world where it’s harder to get into vet school than it is to get into med school—

But we are lucky in the province of Ontario that, at the University of Guelph, we have the number one ranked veterinary school in Canada, the number three ranked veterinary school in all of North America and one of the top 10 veterinary schools in the entire world. We have the capacity in this province to address the shortage of veterinarians in Ontario with a high-class university like the University of Guelph.

And so, I’m going to make a quick comment to my friends on the other side of the aisle. We’ve made important steps in helping the University of Guelph expand veterinary services. I’m going to ask you to even do more. Let’s provide even more funding to the Ontario Veterinary College at the University of Guelph so we can expand the number of veterinary placements there so we can continue to graduate veterinarians to serve the people of this province and ensure that our animals are well cared for. I’m happy to work across all party lines to help make that happen, Speaker.

We know there’s a shortage of veterinarians in Ontario, and this is an important step in addressing it, like I’ve said. We can go even further by supporting the University of Guelph and expanding the number of places at the OVC.

So I’m always happy to read petitions supporting especially the Ontario Veterinary College at the University of Guelph and will continue to say to members of all political stripes in this Legislature that I am ready, willing and able to work with you to expand the number of veterinarian placements at the OVC, because we have a shortage of veterinarians in the province of Ontario and we have the top-ranked university in the province willing to fill that shortage.