Mr. Speaker, it truly is an honour to rise today to present this petition on behalf of hundreds of individuals in my riding.
The petitioners are asking for the federal government to strengthen the Criminal Code provisions to prevent animal cruelty.
The petitioners state that the current laws are inadequate to prevent animal cruelty and that the Criminal Code has not changed that much since 1892. They would like to see this House of Commons strengthen the Criminal Code to ensure that this strengthening would receive royal assent.
That brings me to an incident that happened in my riding of Sudbury last week. A great dog, which the community called “Buddy”, was found on the side of the road with two gunshots to the head. Buddy was rushed to the veterinarian's office but during surgery he passed away. Thousands of people in my community are outraged at what happened to this dog.
As a result, they are calling upon the federal government, through this petition, to help prevent more incidents like this from occurring. I look forward to presenting more petitions like this in the House.