It’s an honour to rise to speak to Bill 159, an important piece of legislation. I want to begin by just saying that I’ll be voting in favour of this bill, because—

Interjections.

I think it’s important to bring in penalties to address puppy mills; there’s no doubt about it. But, Speaker, if we’re going to do this, we have to make sure we have a proper enforcement regime.

I’m the proud dog parent of a rescue dog named Helix. Helix was an abused pup that my family rescued and we’ve taken care of for many years, and I can tell you, Helix is still dealing with the trauma. Even though he’s been with our family and loved for about five or six years, you can still see the trauma Helix experienced. It highlights for me why so many pet lovers and dog lovers want puppy mills shut down.

But if we’re going to do that, we have to listen to the experts who want put on the record—and when say I’ve got to do my job, I’ve got to put a few things on the record—that if we don’t have a proper licensing and enforcement regime in place, this legislation won’t accomplish what we all want it to accomplish, and that’s shutting down puppy mills.

Penalties without enforcement will not provide the protections that puppies deserve and that Ontarians want. I think that is highlighted by the experience we’ve had with the PAWS Act, an act I supported but want to point out that, in an analysis comparing enforcement under PAWS verses previous enforcement under OSPCA, there were 64,000 inspections done under OSPCA, 69,000 done under PAWS. But issues ordered were 16,148 under OSPCA, only 6,970 under PAWS. Charges laid: 1,946 under OSPCA; 667 under PAWS, even though the budget under PAWS is $21 million and under OSPCA was only $5.57 million. We’re paying more for less enforcement.

If this bill is going to have the teeth it needs, we need to ensure that enforcement is in place, and a key part of ensuring that enforcement is in place is having a licencing regime with transparent data for the people of Ontario.