If you live in the Toronto area, you have a Council election coming up on April 18, 2018.

If you live in Simcoe, Halton and Peel, you have an election coming up on June 11, 2018.

Please be a Voter!

You’ll receive an email with a link to the online election where you can find out who is running and make your choice with the quick click of a button.      

If you don’t have an election in your area this year, then maybe your district was up for election last year or maybe it will be up for election next year. One way or another, Council members get elected by physiotherapists from their community.

But once they are here, what do they do? There’s a rumour going around that the real decisions are made by staff. Let’s dispel the myth.

Technically, Council is our Board of Directors. That means that this group of people are responsible to make sure that the College is competently performing all of the tasks that it is required to do under the law. 

Council meets four times a year in Toronto and reviews whether we are properly conducting the business of registration, quality assurance and the management of complaints and reports, among other things.   

Council reviews the College’s budget and spending and makes sure that we are using member fees efficiently and honestly.

But for many Council members, the most interesting element of the work is more hands-on. Council members make the policy decisions, sometimes around the Council table and sometimes by participating in task forces or working groups. 

That might mean debating the contents of the Fees, Billing and Accounts Standard or the structure of a new Quality Assurance program. Periodically it means setting the strategy for the College into the future and assessing how best to achieve the goals.

If you’re interested in knowing more, take a look at a Council meeting package to see the issues that Council has dealt with most recently.

In addition, Council members sit on Committees and consider issues related to individual members. Committees meet most every month or sometimes a little less frequently. They make decisions like whether an applicant qualifies for a Certificate of Registration or what is the appropriate outcome for a patient complaint about a physiotherapist’s conduct. 

When a Practice Assessor identifies concerns about a PT’s practice, it is a Council-appointed Committee that determines what type of educational enhancement is required.

So What Do Staff Do?

• We carry out Council’s directions and decisions.
• We do the day-to-day work of running the business.
• We send the invoices and pay the bills. 
• We carry out investigations and do background research to inform Committee and Council decisions. 
• We set up communications for Council and Committee decisions.   

What we don’t do is set policy or make decisions related to the Certificates of Registration of individual physiotherapists.

So who really runs the College? It’s a partnership for sure. 

It’s a staff job to keep the doors open and the lights on, but it’s Council that makes the most critical decisions.