Message from the College President
The Veterinary Professionals Act provides a new framework for the regulation
Dr. Wade Wright, CVO President of the veterinary profession in Ontario. Achieving new legislation is a historic and essential accomplishment for our profession – we are all proud and excited. I also appreciate it is also somewhat mind-boggling for us and our teams to be in a period of extended transition. The College is here to assist you with any questions you may have.
While the Veterinary Professionals Act has been approved, there is work to be done to develop regulations and by-laws to support the new legislation and the College of Veterinary Professionals of Ontario. The Transition Council is now working on regulatory concepts and will be working on the by-laws in the new year. Your engagement is essential as we move through the next steps, which will include extensive consultations. We invite your input, and we appreciate your questions.
The College will be increasing its outreach to you around the modernization process. I encourage you to read the newsletters – we strive to provide you with timely, concise information. You can also find information here on the website. As always, you are welcome to contact the College with your questions.
Wade Wright, DVM
CVO President
New legislation: the Veterinary Professionals Act
The College Council welcomes its new legislation, the Veterinary Professionals Act, which received Royal Assent in the Ontario legislature on June 6, 2024. The new framework modernizes the regulation of the veterinary profession in Ontario.
Transition Council reviewing regulatory concepts
Veterinary Professionals Act, 2024
Developing Regulatory Concepts
The Veterinary Professionals Act grants the Transition Council the ability to propose regulations to support the new legislation. The Transition Council is currently reviewing regulatory concepts. Once approved, these concepts will be shared for public consultation, revised and then forwarded to the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Agribusiness, who will develop the regulatory language.
Veterinary Technicians: Connect with the College
The Veterinary Professionals Act provides an exciting, new framework for the regulation of the veterinary profession. We want to help you stay informed. Veterinary technicians and veterinary team members who wish to receive helpful e-mails around the work of the Transition Council, upcoming consultations, timelines, and opportunities, can be added to our e-mail distribution list through the link below. Sign up today and you will be entered in a monthly draw for a $50 gift card!
Transition Council established
The Transition Council is beginning work to support the development of the College of Veterinary Professionals of Ontario (CVPO). The Veterinary Professionals Act provides the Transition Council with the ability to determine regulations, by-laws and standards that will come into effect with the establishment of the CVPO. The Transition Council includes 13 licensed veterinarians and four appointees from the provincial government, all of whom are members of the CVO Council, and three Registered Veterinary Technicians, appointed by the Ontario Association of Veterinary Technicians.
Progress towards modernization
A new graphic outlines the College's progress towards modernization beginning with the early work in 2013 towards final proclamation when the College becomes the College of Veterinary Professionals of Ontario.
A helpful reference to understand all the steps involved as we move towards modernized legislation.
Get to know the Veterinary Professionals Act
While the Veterinary Professionals Act is now law, it is not yet in full effect. The College is currently in the transition stage. The Transition Council is developing the regulations and by-laws for the new framework. The earliest the new model could be in place is currently estimated to be January 2026.
The College acknowledges all our partners in this process, in particular the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association and the Ontario Association of Veterinary Technicians whose support and collaboration were fundamental to achieving the new legislation.
The Veterinary Professionals Act represents the biggest update to the regulation of veterinary medicine in Ontario in over 30 years. The new legislation:
- enables the one profession, two professionals approach to veterinary medicine, including veterinary technicians as licensed members
- moves to an authorized activity model, similar to what is in place in human health care
- permits veterinarians to perform all authorized activities
- permits veterinary technician members to perform most authorized activities through initiation, order, or delegation
- permits veterinarians to delegate authorized activities to auxiliaries, including those who are not licensed with the College
- limits use of the titles veterinary technician, veterinary technology and registered veterinary technician to individuals who are licensed with the College
- recognizes intraprofessional (veterinarian and veterinary technician) and interprofessional (veterinary professionals and other non-veterinary animal care providers) collaboration in providing animal care
recognizes non-veterinary animal care providers, including chiropractors, pharmacists, farriers, artificial insemination technicians and other human-based practitioners who have taken additional training in animal care
FAQs on legislative change
The Transition Council has been established and will oversee the development of regulations and by-laws for the new College of Veterinary Professionals of Ontario. Regulations, which are also finalized by the provincial government, offer more specifics on how the Act is applied and implemented.
- 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 Veterinary Professionals 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 transition 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 Veterinary Professionals 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 Veterinary Professionals 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. Once licensed, veterinary technicians would be subject to the same quality assurance and complaints and resolutions processes as veterinarians.
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.
Achieving a Modern Approach to the Regulation of Veterinary Medicine in Ontario:
Achieving a Modern Approach to the Regulation of Veterinary Medicine 2018.pdf