Happy New Year!

All members will have received CCO’s election documents for the Spring 2020 elections to CCO Council. During and following the Spring 2019 elections, we heard from many stakeholders, including members, that the level of discourse between and among colleagues was not as professional and respectful as it should have been. We listened to your feedback. You will note some important changes in the election documents for Spring 2020 to encourage and facilitate the smooth running of a fair election process, focused on a clear understanding by all candidates that communications should reflect a commitment to CCO’s role and mandate to regulate chiropractic in the public interest. Some of these changes include:

• Adopting some of the guiding principles from the Royal College of Dental Surgeons relating to appropriate conduct during elections;
• Establishing an Election Review Committee to include an individual with expertise on another health regulatory college to guide the process and provide prompt feedback about general compliance with CCO’s advertising standards and policies;
• Ensuring CCO maintains control over the distribution of approved material (rather than releasing the e-mail addresses of individuals in the district); and
• Amending the candidate undertaking to include a requirement to review social media postings to ensure compliance with CCO’s standards and to remove any potentially embarrassing content or content inconsistent with CCO’s standards, policies and guidelines.

It is important not only for candidates, but for anyone campaigning on a candidate’s behalf, to make all efforts to ensure all communications are both professional and respectful. CCO is fully aware of the actions by other regulators to suspend and reprimand members who are unprofessional on social media.

I trust everyone would agree that chiropractors who reflect CCO’s core values of integrity, inclusivity, professionalism and high standards of conduct should be both encouraged and inspired to be a candidate for CCO’s Council. We are at an exciting time in our history. CCO has moved to new space, there are many changes on the horizon for the regulation of the health professions, and there are many opportunities to help shape the future of chiropractic regulation in Ontario.

I look forward to communicating with each of you further in the months to come about CCO’s ongoing commitment to stay the course and to ensure members’ dues are focused on matters directly related to public interest protection. I am excited to see how these elections transpire with a dedicated academic position for a faculty member from CMCC, whom I anticipate will bring to CCO discussions the perspective of CMCC as an important stakeholder.

One of the changes on the regulatory horizon is a movement towards smaller more nimble boards to reflect governance best practices, and a new system of eligibility requiring that all appointments to health regulatory councils (both professional and public) are based on competencies and skill-set selection criteria which reflect a commitment to public interest rather than professional or self-interest.

Important leaders in regulation including for example the College of Nurses and College of Teachers, have made convincing submissions as to why change is necessary. CCO supports these changes in principle and looks forward to working with government and others to bring about enhancements to the self-regulation of the professions including chiropractic. Until changes are considered and reflected in government action, I trust and hope that the chiropractic profession will rise to the challenge and stay focused on ensuring the best candidates are elected. CCO would like to be well positioned to adapt and adopt to any government policy changes, and to help influence positive changes to enhance public protection.

I have confidence that the over 5,000 chiropractors in Ontario will be able to meet this challenge, and I look forward to your ongoing engagement in all of CCO’s work, including on Council, as a non-Council committee member, peer assessor, or simply an engaged and interested member of the profession. I too am passionate about this profession. I look forward to the new composition of Council and an ongoing demonstration of our accountability to the public we all serve.

Congratulations to the Quality Assurance Committee for its first Peer Assessor training day at CCO’s new premises. Thank you to CCO’s Peer Assessors, 33 members in good standing from across the province, for being inspirational and focused on continuous quality improvement to ensure high quality, competent chiropractic care for the public of Ontario.