2025 SBCV response to CVBC fee increase motion

July 31, 2025

The SBCV’s short recommendation to our members:

The SBCV is recommending that its members vote YES to the increase for the following reasons:

If the fee increase is defeated, we believe the CVBC will move headstrong into insolvency as it states. It appears to us, by the CVBC's language and actions, that the CVBC wants Section 26 removed or altered to provide it with unfettered discretion to raise the registration and other fees for veterinarians. The SBCV feels that without sound governance and strong financial management, such unfettered discretion could be disastrous for the profession, farm animal production, and the animal-owning public. Further, if the CVBC had sound management and strong financial controls, along with sustainable investigative policies, the CVBC would not need to focus on the removal of Section 26, which was purposefully included by legislators.

Costs and workloads have increased over the past years. While the SBCV is in favour of sound, structured, regular cost-of-living increases in fees such as the ones imposed by our organization (our increases in fees are mentioned in one of the CVBC’s documents), we cannot go back in time and ask that the CVBC adhere to this more rational structure.

The private practice fee increase in the CVBC's motion approximates the total of this current year’s fee plus the inclusion of the one-time-only fee. The SBCV wishes to avoid any future involvement of government to correct a situation caused by deficiencies in the governance of a regulatory body. This is neither the right nor the responsibility of government, and our meeting with the Minister confirms this.

The SBCV’s longer rationale to our members:

The SBCV is taken aback by the negative reflections in both the CVBC’s summary and its June 2025 Cayton memorandum. Both documents contain conclusions and interpretations we disagree with, and they continue to promote the myth that the financial situation is caused by CVBC registrants declining, on three occasions, to pass a fee increase. The SBCV cautions the CVBC that polls and votes are two different things, and the CVBC should not use casual polling to pre-judge voting results. Voting on issues is a basic democratic right in Canada and is why Canadians cast ballots, not answer poll questions during elections.

The SBCV is upset on behalf of its members that the CVBC provides no rationale for how the fee increase will be used, or how the CVBC will restructure its focus on investigations so it will protect the public without bankrupting the College, which obviously is not in the public’s interest. The SBCV feels this request for a fee increase without the development of a sound plan and improved governance and management may lead to a pending disaster.

And the SBCV vigorously disagrees with the CVBC's assertion that it shows evidence of rigorous and responsible financial management when, in fact, the CVBC liquidated an asset (the real estate) purchased years earlier, depleted much of those funds for ongoing expenses, and now teeters on insolvency.

The SBCV has a plan to address serious failings at the CVBC resulting in its continued declaration of impending insolvency. The SBCV shared its plan with the Minister at our meeting, after which the Minister commented on feeling hopeful. The SBCV needs some time to fully implement its plan.

If the SBCV is successful in convincing its membership to approve the CVBC proposed fee increase, we will have the ability to continue working on our plan. Also, an approval of the CVBC’s fee increase presumably removes the immediate threat of insolvency as claimed by the CVBC and removes the immediate prospect of additional government involvement.

We urge our SBCV members -- most importantly -- to vote, as is your right, and we ask our members to please consider voting YES in order to provide the SBCV with the time it needs to develop a better governance strategy for the CVBC which will put it on a path to sustainable sound governance in the public interest.

Click here to read this as a pdf: 2025 SBCV response to CVBC fee increase motion