Updated Nov. 23 — Ontario’s government is considering new legislation to more clearly spell out who can provide what kinds of animal care in the province’s veterinary sector.
The provincial ag ministry on Monday launched a round of public consultation on the Veterinarians Act, which governs licensing of veterinarians and accreditation of veterinary facilities in Ontario.
The ag ministry said it’s “looking for specific feedback on how we can better define animal care activities provided by veterinary professionals.”
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That means more clearly laying out the “scope of practice for veterinary medicine,” such as the procedures, services and processes a licensed veterinarian or other veterinary professional — a veterinary technician, for example — is permitted to perform.
Updates to the legislation would also “clarify” specific care activities, such as massage therapy or rehabilitation, that can be provided to animals by people other than vets and vet techs.
The province said it’s also weighing how oversight of the Ontario veterinary profession can be better lined up with that of other self-governing regulated professions, so as “to ensure that the veterinary profession continues to be managed in the public interest.”
For example, the province said, that could involve “altering the composition” of the profession’s governing council to include a “wider range of membership and voices” such as vet techs, academic representatives and/or “additional public members.”
The province said it’s also looking for public feedback on “how to improve accountability and transparency to make sure that powers, responsibilities and processes under the (Veterinarians) Act are clear to the public.”
Feedback collected in this round of consultations would go to help develop a “more detailed proposal” for amendments to the Veterinarians Act, the province said.
Such proposals would then be laid out in a discussion paper that’s expected to be posted on the Regulatory Registry for further public consultation in early 2023, at which time the public would be able to provide “additional input.”
A ministry representative said via email there’s no firm deadline for submissions to the current round of consultations, but feedback received by early January 2023 will go to help develop the discussion paper. — Glacier FarmMedia Network
