Abstract

This thesis explores animal welfare policies that impact farm animals in the provinces of Quebec,
Ontario, and British Columbia. It crafts the Animal Welfare Policy (AWP) concept and
uses three provincial policy cases to conduct a comparative exercise and identify patterns. These
cases are the Stratégie québécoise de santé et de bien-être des animaux, the 2012 voluntary
collaboration agreement between the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
and the Dairy Farmers of Ontario, and British Columbia’s 2015 integration of the Dairy Code of
Practice as regulation under the provincial Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. Differences are
observed in some characteristics mostly related to policy implementation, and it is proposed that
distinct historical provincial development can lend explanatory weight in this area. It is also
proposed that the similarities observed in all three provinces, namely the dominance of vested
producer interests in policy-making, a lack of accountability by these interests, and a general
policy approach of marginal incrementalism, can be at least partially explained by the pervasive phenomena
of agricultural exceptionalism and corporatism in Canada. Access to information challenges are also highlighted and inform potential avenues for future research.