The Montreal SPCA wants to make animal welfare a key issue of the upcoming provincial election.

On Monday the lobby group launched a poster campaign against standard farm practices, including the castration of animals without anesthetic.

"We're asking for our next provincial government to regulate the treatment of farm animals, because currently farm animals have barely anylegal protection at all," said SPCA spokesperson Sophie Gaillard. 

Gaillard said how farm animals are treated varies from province to province.

"We do have national codes of practice that regulate how farm animals are to be treated however they have no force of law. They are completely voluntary in most provinces. Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador have made these codes mandatory but in Quebec it's really up to the producers if they're going to abide by them or not," said Gaillard.

Under Quebec's three-year-old law regarding animal welfare, pets must be anesthetized prior to being neutered, while farm animals must be treated "in accordance with generally recognized rules."

The national code of practice for beef changed its regulations on Jan. 1, 2018, saying bulls should be given pain control if castrated after the age of six months.

But Gaillard said the laws don't protect those raised for human consumption. 

"That's why on farms in Quebec, we continue to routinely see practices that are extremely cruel, which cause immense suffering to animals, such as castration without anesthesia," she said. 

Rene Roy, the second vice chair of the Canadian Pork Council, said the animals are protected under the new law and defended the industry, saying they follow best practices. 

"There are some groups, animal welfare groups, that are part of the discussion and it's based on consensus," he said. 

The SPCA plans to ask the four main political parties in Quebec what they will do to ensure the welfare of animals. 

Earlier this year the group ordered a poll from Leger, and Gaillard said it showed "seven out of ten Quebecers expect their future government to adopt legislative measures and policies designed to ensure the welfare of the province’s animals."