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.