Mr. Speaker, I want to begin by first expressing my sympathies to the hon. member and his community for that loss.
Our government believes that animal cruelty is an extremely important social issue that deserves a national conversation. Our government is reviewing issues pertaining to animal cruelty provisions, including expanding the definition of bestiality and the definition of animal fighting in the code.
We believe that animal cruelty should be balanced and protect animals from deliberate and unnecessary acts of cruelty while not interfering with legitimate animal use, including indigenous animal harvesting rights. We look forward to working with our hon. colleague and all members of the House to achieve those goals.