About the College
The System of Self-Regulation
T
he College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO)
regulates the province’s medical profession to protect
and serve the public interest. It issues certificates of registration to doctors to allow them to practise medicine, monitors
and maintains standards of practice through peer assessment and remediation, investigates complaints against
doctors on behalf of the public, and disciplines doctors who
have committed an act of professional misconduct or are
incompetent.
Professional self-regulation is based on the premise that
the College must act first and foremost in the interest of
the public. The role of the College, as well as its authority
and powers, are set out in the Regulated Health Professions
Act (RHPA), the Health Professions Procedural Code under the
RHPA and the Medicine Act.
The Council is the governing body of the College. The RHPA
stipulates that it consist of at least 32 and no more than 34
members:
• 6 physicians elected by their peers on a geographical ba1
sis every three years;
• hree physicians appointed from among the six faculties of
t
medicine (at Western University, McMaster University, University of Toronto, Queen’s University, University of Ottawa,
and the Northern Ontario School of Medicine);
• etween 13 and 15 non-physician or public members
b
appointed by the provincial government for terms decided
by the government.