Ontario Introducing Measures to Help Improve Access to Veterinary Services

New legislation recognizes important role veterinary technicians play in providing care

Today, the Ontario government introduced legislation designed to enhance access to professional animal care.

The Enhancing Professional Care for Animals Act would, if passed, pave the way to formalizing the broad scope of practice for veterinary technicians that could result in an expanded role. The legislation would also streamline the complaints resolution process and increase penalties for actions that intentionally harm an animal.

“Continued access to safe and professional care is critical for pet owners and farmers which is why we are proposing to modernize the 35-year-old legislative framework regulating the veterinary profession,” said Lisa Thompson, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. “This bill is designed to enable better access to veterinary services, recognize the important role of veterinary technicians, improve oversight of the profession and increase quality assurance through measures like continuing education.”

Following extensive public consultations with stakeholders and partners on ways to modernize the laws governing veterinarians and improve access to care in Ontario, the proposed new legislation would provide a number of important benefits, including:

• Enabling the creation of a formal scope of practice for veterinary technicians that would allow them to perform to the full potential of their training and expertise.
• New requirements for continuing education similar to other regulated professions.
• An improved complaints resolution process to allow disputes to be addressed more quickly.
• Increased penalties to better reflect the seriousness of actions that could harm animals.
• Ensuring more public representation on the council of the regulatory college overseeing veterinary professionals to bring broader perspectives.

If passed, the new legislation would better align oversight of Ontario’s veterinary profession with other self-regulated health professions in the province.