Community Safety Minister Madeleine Meilleur says her team is putting “finishing touches” on changes to laws for animals in Ontario that include licensing zoos and aquariums and increasing the scope, funding and transparency of the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

The plan, which has been in the works for almost a year, also calls for regulations for the care of marine mammals in captivity.

“What is the standard of care for marine mammals? We don’t have that,” Meilleur said in an interview before Wednesday’s cabinet meeting. “We are looking at the standard of care.”

Meilleur, whose portfolio oversees the OSPCA, said her ministry began a review of government policy last August after a Star series quoted former trainers at Marineland Canada in Niagara Falls on health problems among animals that had been in their care. Meilleur said she realized there were areas such as marine mammal care that lacked oversight in Ontario, that where regulations existed, they were not always adequate, and that zoos and aquariums were unlicensed.

The minister said she’s aiming to table the new rules by the end of September, but that the date may slip into October. It’s not clear how much will require new legislation and how much can be done through rewriting regulations.

The minister initially told the Star she expected her three-part plan to be finished in spring, but the consultation process took longer than expected. For example, it essentially took the month of January to change a part of the OSPCA Act that had stripped the agency of the right to investigate animals under veterinary care. It appears the change has increased the OSPCA’s scope to include all animals in private facilities in its investigations.

Meilleur said the OSPCA, a private charity, will get a larger chunk of provincial money and will have greater authority provincewide. As well, the government is negotiating for a seat on the OSPCA board, which will put it in a better position to argue for transparency.

The agency has traditionally kept findings of its investigations secret.

“This is a serious matter,” Meilleur said of the provincial drive for formal oversight of animal care. “I wanted the partners fully involved in the consultative process,” rather than just imposing her will, she said. The “partners” included government departments, animal welfare groups and zoos and aquariums.

Meilleur said she knows that when no announcements are forthcoming from Queen’s Park, people often assume nothing is being done. “But that’s not true,” she said, adding she is “very happy with the progress we have made. We are adding finishing touches.”

After her victory, Premier Kathleen Wynne asked Meilleur, a senior minister, if she wanted to stay in her portfolio or take on a new challenge. Meilleur wanted to stay, to finish outstanding issues, including her plan for animal regulation and care.

“I never take on anything that I am not optimistic about winning,” she said. “Otherwise, you’ve got a recipe for not accomplishing your goals. I am very optimistic we will be successful.”

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