Introduced by MLA David Marit, Bill 73, Saskatchewan’s Animal Production Act [production, not protection] has passed consideration by the Standing Committee on the Economy, passed third reading, and now awaits royal assent. The bill seeks to modernize Saskatchewan’s administrative laws surrounding farm licensing, inspections, identifications, fencing, and stray animals. Such laws had not been comprehensively reviewed since the 1970s. In consideration of animal protection, under Bill 73’s Part 10 “Offences and Penalties,” the bill includes a specific offence under s. 10-1(1)(r) that no person shall fail to provide proper animal care as required in the province’s Animal Protection Act, 2018. Penalties for a first offence could result in a summary conviction of a fine not more than $15,000 and one year imprisonment, and penalties for subsequent offences could result in a summary conviction with a fine not exceeding $25,000 and one year imprisonment. Read the text of the bill here.