A private member's bill planned by North Vancouver Seymour MLA Jane Thornthwaite aims to put some teeth into regulations preventing puppy mills and abusive breeders.
Thornthwaite is currently soliciting help writing the bill with the goal of introducing legislation by the spring session to regulate and inspect breeders more closely
"Right now the Canadian Kennel Club has very good regulations for breeders, but they're not mandatory. Anybody can either follow them or not," said Thornthwaite.
"So if we have an irreputable breeder that's out there, this act would put into law they would have to treat these animals in a humane way if they were breeding them."
The law follows up on changes to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act that were passed last year, increasing penalties for the most serious offenses and boosting funding for prevention.
That legislation shift was in response to news that 100 healthy sled dogs were massacred by an employee of Outdoor Adventure Whistler after business collapsed.
Thornthwaite said constituents and advocates have told her the changes didn't go far enough, and her legislation will aim to fill those gaps.
She's currently collecting feedback as to what should be included in the law, she said, and has consulted advocates including the SPCA and the Canadian Veterinarian Medical Association.
"There's a lot of support within the academics and the people who are in the business," she said.
The next step is convincing MLAs.
Marcie Moriarty, general manager of cruelty investigations at the B.C. SPCA, said a province-wide licensing system would be "fantastic," but would have to be followed up with increased funding for enforcement to be effective.
"Legislation is only as good as the enforcement," she said. "And the reality is that currently - given the current resources that the SPCA investigators rely on to investigate, which is donor dollars - we'd have an extremely difficult time enforcing such a piece of legislation."
Moriarty said the funding could come from a provincial licensing fee, which could make the program more self sustaining.
As it stands, the SPCA uses existing legislation to target puppy mill-like operations. For example, 71 dogs were seized in July 2011 from a kennel north of Courtenay on Vancouver Island.
According to Thornthwaite, much of her initiative's effectiveness should come in the form of public awareness, as consumers demand to see provincial certification to know that a kennel is following the law.
