We are very supportive of the bill as it stands. While they are modest changes, the reason I focused on the word “modest” is it is something that all the stakeholders can easily get behind. Unfortunately, that is where many of the bills over the last 20 years have died. It's because the stakeholders couldn't agree.
Before you now is a modest update to those sections. We have broad support not just from humane societies, SPCAs, but from animal welfare, veterinarians, from all of the agricultural communities. It meets the needs of all of those stakeholders. That's really important to focus on in this case.
That said, we fully support and have sent letters to the justice minister many times over the last few years, supporting the concept of a bigger and broader engagement on how we actually make the entire Criminal Code effective for the protection of animals. We do tend to zero in on the animal cruelty section, but there are other things that can also be done, so it needs a comprehensive overhaul. We are pleased to see that the minister committed to continuing that work and we'll continue to advocate for that.