Ontario NDP and Greens call on Ford government to improve animal welfare services

The Ontario New Democrats and the leader of Ontario's Green Party tell CBC Hamilton they want the Ford government to take action after an investigation that raised concerns about the province's animal welfare services (PAWS).

The CBC investigation found PAWS inspectionsare leading to far fewer orders, and provincial and criminal charges compared to when the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA) responded to calls for animal abuse and neglect.

The province previously said it has a "highly-trained team of inspectors" and some of the requests it receives fall under the jurisdiction of police or local bylaw.

Animal rights advocates and experts said Ontario needs more PAWS inspectors, needs to tweak animal welfare legislation and be far more transparent.

Now opposition parties are echoing their calls.

"It begs the question: is this government taking the welfare of animals seriously? Is this government prioritizing this and is the PAWS act working?" Sandy Shaw, the NDP MPP for Hamilton WestAncasterDundas, said.

"It looks like things are getting worse, not better."

'It looks like things are getting worse'

She previously wrote a letter criticizing the response from Ontario's solicitor general to videos that appeared to show a man whipping and dragging his dog, named Merlin, down a sidewalk in late June.

PAWS and local police responded a week after the incident, taking Merlin away from the man, who faces three provincial charges.

"The case of Merlin elicited so many phone calls and emails to my office it was unbelievable," Shaw said in an interview.

"It should not take a public outcry to get protection for our animals and to reassure people that animal welfare is a priority."

Ontario Green Party leader Mike Schreiner said the drop in orders and charges is "deeply concerning" given there's no sign there's less animal abuse occurring.

"At the very least, we need more transparency," he said.

Schreiner also highlighted how PAWS has a much larger budget than the OSPCA did.

PAWS has an annual budget of roughly $21 million, far more than the $5.75 million budget the OSPCA worked with by the time it stopped the animal welfare workin 2019.

"We're paying more and seem to be getting less enforcement we need an open, fair and honest rationale of why that has happened," said Schreiner, member of provincial parliament for Guelph.

Shaw and Schreiner said the province should welcome the recommendations raised by advocates and experts, including hiring more inspectors, tightening language in the legislation and making enforcement data public.

"The perception and idea that the average person that sees an animal in distress has to go through inordinate effort to get any kind of action is really unfortunate," Shaw said.

CBC Hamilton asked the Ministry of the Solicitor General for comment but didn't immediately hear back.