Moving towards new legislation
The College Council welcomes the provincial government’s legislation, introduced on March 7, 2024, to modernize the regulation of the veterinary profession in Ontario.
News release from the College, March 7, 2024:
A step forward for veterinary medicine in Ontario
News release from the Ontario government, March 7, 2024
Ontario Introducing Measures to Help Improve Access to Veterinary Services
Draft legislation - Enhancing Professional Care for Animals Act
Tabled in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario on March 7, 2024
Bill 171, Enhancing Professional Care for Animals Act, 2024
An overview of the draft legislation, presented to College Council in March 2024
The College, along with the Ontario Association of Veterinary Technicians and the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association, are working collaboratively on modernization to strengthen public protection and more accurately reflect current veterinary practice.
The College Council sees legislative reform as an opportunity to provide the public and the veterinary profession with:
better protection of animal welfare
clarity in the role of veterinary technicians and recognition for their skillset on the veterinary team
a more streamlined approach to managing investigations and their resolutions
improved access to low-risk health care options for animal owners
increased accountability and transparency
modernized and enhanced governance
FAQs on legislative change
The Enhancing Professional Care for Animals Act has been introduced in the Ontario legislature and will move through the stages of the parliamentary process. As well as being debated and voted on by Members of Provincial Parliament, the Bill will receive thorough clause-by-clause consideration by a parliamentary committee, which may result in amendments. Once the Bill has the approval of the House, it receives what is known as Royal Assent.
While there is no set timeline for this process, the government has indicated the bill is a priority. It is possible the bill may receive Royal Assent before the Ontario legislature rises in June. The College will continue to share information on the bill’s progress.
Following Royal Assent, the regulations will be developed. Regulations, which are also finalized by the provincial government, offer more specifics on how the Act is applied and implemented. As well, a transitional Council will be established to support the work in drafting By-Laws and policies for the new College of Veterinary Professionals of Ontario.
- Recognizes team-based veterinary care and acknowledges the roles of veterinarians and veterinary technicians.
- Adds requirements for quality assurance programs similar to other regulated professions.
- Enables non-veterinarians to provide care to animals using lower-risk forms of treatment.
- Streamlines the complaints and resolutions process, enabling disputes to be addressed more quickly.
- Enables a greater amount of information about a licence holder to be collected, and where appropriate, posted on the public register.
- Ensures more public representation on the council of the regulatory college.
Following proclamation of the Enhancing Professional Care for Animals Act, the College of Veterinarians of Ontario (CVO) will be renamed the College of Veterinary Professionals of Ontario. This name reflects its new role in overseeing two categories of veterinary professionals within a single veterinary profession.
During the period of transition, the existing CVO Council will continue to deal with matters concerning licensed members and the work of the College under the existing Act. At the same time, a transitional Council will be established to support the work in developing regulations, drafting By-Laws, policies and procedures for the new College of Veterinary Professionals of Ontario.
The College welcomes the formal quality assurance program which is part of the Enhancing Professional Care for Animals Act. This aligns with the requirements for other regulated professions in Ontario.
Registered Veterinary Technicians will be licensed through the College of Veterinary Professionals of Ontario, which will be established when the regulations and By-Laws governing the veterinary professionals are in place.
The Enhancing Professional Care for Animals Act recognizes team-based veterinary care and acknowledges the role of veterinarians and veterinary technicians. Veterinary technicians will have a broad scope of practice that reflects their skills and training.
One of the key objectives of the Enhancing Professional Care for Animals Act is to bring added efficiency to the complaints and resolutions process, enabling disputes to be addressed more quickly. The proposed legislation includes new and updated procedures for investigations, addressing professional misconduct and a member’s fitness to practice. The current Veterinarians Act has been a barrier to the College’s efforts to resolve complaints in a timely manner.
Responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs
The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs has oversight of the Veterinarians Act. As a regulatory college, the College of Veterinarians of Ontario has legal authority through its governing legislation, the Veterinarians Act. While the College can identify the need for legislative changes, it is ultimately the responsibility of the provincial government to revise the governing legislation.
Recording, virtual town hall, March 2023
A recording of the presentation and question and answer session from the March 15, 2023 virtual townhall discussing the modernization of the Veterinarians Act.
Podcast with CVO, OAVT and OVMA, February 2023
In this podcast, Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of the College, Jan Robinson, is joined by John Stevens, Chief Executive Officer of the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association and Elise Wickett, Executive Director and Registrar of the Ontario Association of Veterinary Technicians. They discuss the ongoing consultation and progress towards the modernization of the regulation of the veterinary profession in Ontario.
The College Council adopted key principles to guide the work of the legislative reform working groups, College staff, and Council through the legislative review process.
Right Touch Regulation: Right touch regulation means utilizing the minimum regulatory approach required to achieve the desired result. The intent is to focus on identified and verified risks and simplicity in solutions.
Agility: Agility in regulation means looking forward and anticipating change. The Act intended to provide for broad authority which permits a flexible approach to actual implementation and the opportunity to refine regulatory responses over time.
Just Culture: A just culture ties discipline to an individual's intent or behavioural choices rather than the outcome of their actions. In promoting a just culture, we accept that mistakes occur. We consider both the individual and the system which gives rise to errors and seek to learn from incidents and errors.
Collaborative self-regulation: Collaboration in self-regulation is demonstrated by an approach that views the public, veterinarians, government, and others involved in the safe delivery of veterinary medicine as partners in achieving quality practice outcomes.
Risk Mitigation: Our regulatory solutions seek to mitigate risks in practice. Our processes support the measurement and evaluation of risk(s), and solutions which manage them effectively and responsibly.
Transparency: The public needs access to information to trust that profession-based regulation works effectively. Transparency includes the provision of information to the public that enhances its ability to make decisions or hold the regulator accountable. Transparency, however, must balance public protection with fairness and privacy.
For more information on the College's legislative reform activities, please review the noted reference materials.
Right Tough Regulation, Professional Standards Authority:
Achieving a Modern Approach to the Regulation of Veterinary Medicine in Ontario:
Achieving a Modern Approach to the Regulation of Veterinary Medicine 2018.pdf