Mr. Speaker, a little later on in the debate I hope to do a formal speech myself, but I do want to note for the parliamentary record that the animal rights provisions in this particular piece of legislation appeared in the previous parliament in a much cruder form. It is worthy of note that the Department of Justice did make a number of very significant changes to the animal cruelty provisions that exist before us. However this is not to say that further improvements are not possible. There are some on this side of the House who share some of the concerns expressed on the other side.
However we should all understand that the whole purpose of second reading debate is to discuss these flaws and see whether or not the committee will support the concerns expressed in the debate and make the appropriate recommendations to the minister.