We, the undersigned nurses and supporters, are calling on the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) to withdraw or substantially revise the proposed amendments to By-Law No. 2 (Fees).

Under the proposal, CNO would move fees into a separate Fee Schedule and apply an automatic annual increase of 7% by default, with the ability to approve increases above that amount up to 10%. This is not just a one-time change in fees. It is a structural change that would make repeated annual increases easier to impose with less direct member scrutiny. This petition is meant to support the CNO consultation by gathering perspectives from nurses and raising awareness.
Simply contributing to the conversation. 

A profession-wide regulator should not be able to hardwire automatic annual increases far above recent inflation without stronger accountability to the members who fund it.

We are calling on CNO to:

1. Remove the automatic 7% annual fee increase provision from the proposed by-law amendments.
2. Reject any model that permits annual increases up to 10% without stronger, direct member accountability.
3. Tie any future fee increases more closely to inflation, unless CNO can clearly demonstrate and publicly justify a higher need with detailed financial evidence.
4. Publish a full cost breakdown of the interjurisdictional registration framework, including the administrative costs of supporting mobility and how those costs are distributed across the membership.
5. Confirm whether Ontario-only members are subsidizing mobility-related rebates or administration, and if so, consider a separate optional mobility-related fee stream instead of embedding those costs into general annual fees.
6. Maintain meaningful public consultation and transparency before future fee changes, rather than relying on an internal schedule that can be increased year after year.

Ontario nurses are committed to safe, ethical, accountable care. We are asking CNO to apply those same principles to its own fee policies.

Ontario nurses are already managing staffing shortages, burnout, rising living costs, and significant pressure in the health care system. At a time like this, recurring above-inflation increases should require a compelling and transparent justification.

CNO’s own published financial materials show that in 2024 it reported $85.44 million in revenue, $81.83 million in expenses, and an excess of revenues over expenses of $3.61 million. The same annual report shows unrestricted net assets of $39.18 million at year-end. CNO’s 2025 draft budget projects an annual operating surplus of $0.669 million and expected accumulated unrestricted net assets of $40.804 million by the end of 2025. 

CNO’s 2025 budget also states that its proposed compensation budget is $62.0 million, which is 69% of the overall expense budget. 

These are fair questions that deserve clear answers:
Why is a built-in 7% annual increase necessary when CNO recently reported a multi-million-dollar surplus and is projecting another surplus? Why should fee growth outpace the inflation pressures nurses themselves are expected to absorb in their own lives and workplaces? 

We are also concerned that CNO’s proposal introduces benefits for interjurisdictional registrants without clearly showing how the associated administrative costs are allocated. CNO’s public fee information states that interjurisdictional registrants receive a 25% rebate on their annual membership fee when another Canadian jurisdiction is their home jurisdiction and Ontario is their host jurisdiction. Labour mobility rules under the Canadian Free Trade Agreement are about recognition across provinces and territories, not just one nursing category. 

We support fair labour mobility. We support nurses being able to move and practise where they are needed. But if CNO is building a fee framework that supports multi-jurisdiction registration, then Ontario nurses deserve transparent reporting on what that system costs, who benefits from it, and whether Ontario only members are indirectly subsidizing those benefits. Mobility-related administration should not be buried inside a one-size-fits-all fee structure without a clear explanation. 

Fee policy should be transparent, proportionate, and fair.