During 2024, we are working on the issue of puppy mills and pushing to ensure the passage of the PUPS Act. This important piece of legislation was passed in June, and we expect public consultation on the regulations to begin shortly.
These regulations will be critical to establishing real protections for dogs and the public and truly solving the problem of puppy mills. We have told the government from the beginning that the rules and regulations need to include standards for the care and health of dogs, as well as regulations on sales, advertising and record-keeping. We have also advised that we would like them to include their promised consultation on unnecessary veterinary procedures.
Unfortunately, not all of these topics may be covered as part of the regulations. It will therefore be vital that the government hears from the public about how important comprehensive, effective regulations are to ensure the welfare of dogs and prevent unethical breeding.
As the Government launches its public consultation, I will be sharing with you how you can give your input to help the Government move forward on effective PUPS Act regulations. In the meantime, I encourage you to write the Solicitor General to express your support for effective regulations for dog breeders. You can send your thoughts. Minister.SOLGEN@ontario.ca
Update October 2024.
The Ontario Legislature returns on October 21.St And we want to share with you the Ontario SPCA’s government relations priorities for the coming months. From the Prime Minister, to key ministers and MPPs, to opposition parties, we are going to put animal welfare issues front and center at Queen’s Park.
To ensure we are as effective as possible in our work, we are focusing on a targeted list of priorities:
- eliminating unnecessary cosmetic procedures such as feline declawing, tail docking and ear cropping, and devocalization;
- Ensuring real action on puppy mills by pushing for effective regulations supporting the PUPS Act passed in the spring;
- Overhauling the Dog Owners Liability Act, including removing the pit bull ban, placing greater emphasis on owner responsibility, and ensuring that the process is clear and not lengthy.
- Emphasizing government financial support to ensure access to veterinary care in underserved parts of the province, such as northern and First Nations communities, and shelters.
We’ll keep you up to date on how our efforts are progressing in the coming months. Although we have initially had positive discussions with the government on some of these issues, we may still need your help to make government action a reality. The more people getting their updates to us, the more people we can call to help take action.
You can help today by signing up for our advocacy updates. We want to move quickly to make sure the provincial government knows that people in Ontario care about animal welfare, and as many people as we can to help, we’re putting pressure on the government. The more effective it will be to put.
Update June 2024.
Exciting news! The Preventing Unethical Puppy Sales Act (PUPS Act) has passed its final vote at Queen’s Park! This new law is an important step towards protecting dogs and the public from unscrupulous breeders who operate puppy mills. The Ontario SPCA and Humane Society are pushing to make sure it passes before the summer holidays.
In May, the Ontario SPCA’s Director of Government Relations had the opportunity to speak to the Provincial Justice Committee about the Act and additional protections we would like to see. Many of our concerns were incorporated into the final version of the Act. We will continue to work with the Solicitor General’s Office as they develop the detailed regulations that will accompany the new law to ensure that our remaining concerns are addressed.
As the Solicitor General develops these regulations, we will emphasize detailed standards that provide concrete, enforceable requirements for animal care, sales requirements and record keeping. We are also calling on the Solicitor General to begin this process immediately, and bring together experts from the animal welfare field to create strong regulations that provide the best possible protection for dogs and the public.
Thank you to everyone who supported the Ontario SPCA, and the many organizations across the province who are advocating to make this legislation a reality!
Update March 2024.
In early December, the provincial government introduced the PUPS Act to crack down on puppy mills in the province. This was an important step towards protecting animals and people from unethical breeders who often keep dogs in terrible conditions.
Unfortunately, this progress seems to have stalled.
It has been almost four months since the legislation was introduced and it has not been debated or referred to committee. It usually takes about 10 days for this to happen with a government bill like this.
We need to tell Premier Ford that this legislation cannot wait. There is still plenty of time for the legislation to be passed before the summer, but only if the government makes it a priority.
Will you help us pass the PUPS Act? Take just 2 minutes to send a letter to the Prime Minister showing your support for the swift passage of puppy mill legislation this spring.
The Ontario SPCA is urging the government to immediately enact legislation and begin the process of writing detailed regulations that will give teeth to the law. We have already sent them a detailed list of what we want to see included in the regulations because there is no time to wait. We do not want to see this process dragged out for months or years when the need to close puppy mills in Ontario is so critical.
So the government needs to hear from people like you, who support the PUPS Act and want to see it passed immediately.
Update December 2023.
Two steps forward for animal welfare – the new PUPS Act
This legislation is a welcome and important step toward protecting dogs from unethical breeders and solving the problem of puppy mills across our province. The Ontario SPCA and the Humane Society look forward to continuing to work with the Solicitor General to further develop these detailed regulations that will protect both dogs and the public as much as possible.
– Doug Brooks
President and CEO, Ontario SPCA and Humane Society
The Ontario SPCA and Humane Society is pleased to share two successful updates about our advocacy efforts. The government has introduced a bill that will crack down on the unethical breeding and sale of puppies. The Unethical Puppy Sales (PUPS) Act would make changes to the PAWS Act specifically focused on addressing puppy mills, including defining puppy mills, significant sanctions and penalties, record-keeping requirements, and restrictions on sales and transfers. are included. The dog legislation forms a broad framework, and many specific details will be developed into regulations in the coming months.
The issue of puppy mills has been repeatedly raised with the Office of the Solicitor General over the past few months by the Ontario SPCA, and other animal welfare advocates, SPCAs, and Humane Societies. It’s amazing to see our efforts making an impact.
The Government also announced today that it will launch a consultation on regulations relating to medically unnecessary procedures for dogs and cats, such as declawing, tail docking, ear cropping, and devocalisation. This has been another focus for our advocacy efforts over the past year and we are excited to move forward to address this important animal welfare issue.
The Government’s progress on legislation and regulations on many of our key priorities underlines the collective impact we have made to ensure these issues are on their agenda. The Ontario SPCA will continue to contribute to the regulation development process to help ensure the strongest possible protections for animals and its partnerships with SPCAs, Humane Societies, and other organizations on this and other animal welfare issues. Will continue to work with partners.
