Thank you to my colleagues across the aisle for talking about this. I know previously in debate there was a lot of focus on farming, because of the member who was speaking. I appreciate the conversation about pets.

I have two rescue dogs, and my wife really loves Petsave. One of the dogs came from Petsave. A lot of the work they do for these dogs who have been really abused, abandoned or just simply neglected is that they work with vet techs and veterinarians to provide the care and services they need. These vets and vet techs have the ability to donate their time to help these animals recover and have better lives.

I’m just wondering: In the bill, will this allow the flexibility for vet techs and veterinarians to be able to continue to provide these services or perhaps be able to do more of this sort of work?

Part VIII of schedule 1 of this legislation deals with the investigation and resolutions within the College of Veterinarians, including their powers and duties. Back in 2016, I met directly with the college to discuss a horrible situation in Niagara where the vet was abusing animals in his clinic, an issue that the college was aware of, including having video evidence. However, they could not respond quickly enough. They were unable to issue an interim suspension or release information because a judgment was issued. All the while, people in Niagara were bringing their pets to the vet.

How does this legislation help in addressing this issue and do you think it will ensure issues like this don’t happen again to people’s pets in 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?