Enhancing animal care goal of proposed legislation

Ontario introduced the Enhancing Professional Care for Animals Act March 7 in an effort to enhance access to professional animal care.

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If passed, the government said in a release the legislation would pave the way to formalizing the broad scope of practice for veterinary technicians that could result in an expanded role.

It said the legislation would also streamline the complaints resolution process and increase penalties for actions that intentionally harm an animal.

In the release, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Lisa Thompson said the legislative framework regulating the veterinary profession hasn’t been updated for 35 years.

“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,” Thompson said.

The proposed legislation is the result of “extensive” public consultations with stakeholders and partners on ways to modernize the laws governing veterinarians and improve access to care in Ontario, the government said.

Benefits of the new legislation highlighted in the release include:

• 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.

For more information on the proposed legislation, click here.