MPP calls for expansion of Veterinary Incentive Program eligibility

Haldimand-Norfolk’s MPP, with farmer support, is calling on the province to expand the Veterinary Incentive Program’s recognition of “under-serviced areas.”

“I’d like to see the government commit to providing an incentive program across all the areas of the province that are experiencing a shortage or an absence of large animal vet services,” Bobbi Ann Brady told Farmtario.

The independent MPP and former executive assistant to Progressive Conservative Toby Barrett said the province is taking “one step towards steering some of the Ontario Veterinary College graduates to large animal medicine instead of small animals,” but argued that focusing on northern areas ignores the reality in parts of southern and eastern Ontario.

Why it matters: Critics claim the focus of the province’s Veterinary Incentive Program is too narrow.

The program, announced Oct. 27 by Ontario agriculture minister Lisa Thompson, provides new or recently graduated food animal species veterinarians with grants up to $50,000 over five years to set up in under-serviced areas. The incentive program works in conjunction with an earlier funding initiative for a joint University of Guelph/Lakehead University program for training vets in northern Ontario.

At first blush, Thompson’s announcement and the abridged news release said the government focused on northern Ontario. The order identified “under-serviced areas” as those in northern Ontario including the counties of Renfrew and Haliburton, townships of Addington Highlands, Carlow/Mayo, Limerick, Wollaston and Georgian Bluffs, South Bruce Peninsula and the District Municipality of Muskoka.

However, a closer reading revealed the possibility that vets could secure grants when applying to serve other parts of the province.

Contacted for clarification, OMAFRA media relations specialist Connie Osborne said “additional under-serviced rural areas will be considered based on program demand and demonstrated need. This could include areas that have veterinary coverage for some species but are under-serviced for others (e.g., beef cattle, sheep). Applicants practicing in clinics outside of the named eligible areas may qualify if they demonstrate that food animal clients are under-served in their area.”

Brady said she wasn’t aware of that when contacted by Farmtario but said in her own press release about the announcement that her farming constituents believe parts of Haldimand-Norfolk should also qualify.

She said OMAFRA knows the locations of under-serviced areas and prospective grant applicants shouldn’t be required to prove need.

The inaugural grant application period, which could potentially assist 30 vets, concludes Jan. 31, 2024, but Osborne declined to reveal how many applications have been received and if any came from outside northern Ontario.

“Why are we making them (graduates) go through that? Just make it easy. I’m not saying exclude the north. A farmer is a farmer,” Brady said. “But we need to level the playing field.”

Her release cited a Norfolk Cattlemen’s Association representative who said “we no longer have a large animal vet in Norfolk. Some raising cattle don’t have a vet (at all). We are as desperate here in Norfolk as those in some other areas.”

Henk Lise, chair of Haldimand-Norfolk Chicken Producers, agrees.

The economic impact of poultry farms in the Haldimand-Norfolk region and neighbouring Niagara areas and along Lake Huron’s shoreline, all experiencing vet shortages, justify government investment to ensure adequate food animal care, Lise told Farmtario.

Lise’s Hagersville-area broiler operation uses Dr. Liz Black of Elfrida Poultry Diagnostics near Caledonia, the district’s only poultry vet. His next option is Guelph Poultry Veterinary Services, approximately 100 kilometres away.

“I know there are farmers out there who can’t get a vet. So, I can’t really complain,” Lise said, adding Black also serves chicken farmers further east, some of them well into the Niagara Peninsula and others further than 100 km from reliable veterinary care.

According to Albert Fledderus, Dairy Farmers of Ontario regional representative, dairy veterinary services are accessible through a Dunnville clinic and outside the boundary near Fort Erie and Beachville. Farmtario learned Beachville-area’s Oxford Bovine Services clientele is approximately 90 per cent dairy, with some beef, sheep and goat care provided. For a Port Dover farmer, that’s a 100-km trip.

University of Guelph research on veterinarian shortages contributed to the province’s push to address food animal veterinary shortfalls. In 2021, in collaboration with Acer Consulting, U of G published the

“Assessing Food Animal Veterinary Services in Underserved Areas of Rural Ontario” report. It showed some of the research was prompted by the provincial government’s goal to promote agriculture growth in Northern Ontario.

The study made two recommendations to government: “Review northern-specific funding programs for veterinarians”; and “Increase funding for externships in northern Ontario.”

Based on information provided by the Northern Producer Animal Health Network to the U of G, the report identifies four specific underserved areas:

• Sudbury West: “the area does not currently have a permanent veterinarian and relies on Manitoulin Island Vet Services for veterinary care”;
• Cochrane South: “the Matheson area currently has no local veterinarian. The neighbouring Temiskaming vet service will do limited calls for the area; however, there are no emergency services”;
• Timmins: “do not have a full-time veterinarian, as the current veterinarian only does a few calls a year”;
• North Parry Sound and East Nipissing: “the Powassan and Bodfield areas use a (large animal) veterinarian from Sturgeon Falls, which is 70 km away.”

Brady believes the government’s interpretation of the report failed to identify that other areas are also under-served.

“I’m scratching my head when I think about why (the government) would put the program together like this.”