Optometrist Dr. Thomas Noël says he should be able to advertise his services just as dentists do.
A new Competition Bureau report is poised to shake up the way Canadian pharmacists, optometrists, real estate agents, lawyers and accountants do business.
Released in December, the Self Regulated Professions: Balancing Competition and Regulation study recommends loosening the restrictions on advertising, entering the profession, moving between provinces, pricing and business structure.
“We hope we’ve opened up a dialogue. This isn’t just a study that was published and put away on a shelf,” said Eric Ferron, a senior competition law officer at the bureau. “We expect professional organizations to review the rules and regulations in place and take a competitive lens to them.”
About 60 professional groups, ranging from provincial colleges to national organizations, gave input to the federal agency’s study by completing questionnaires.
Centretown professionals found some of the report’s recommendations promising. Dr. Thomas Noël, an optometrist at the McLeod Optometry Clinic, said he agreed with removing advertising restrictions on his profession.
“I think optometrists should be allowed to advertise like dentists,” Noël said. “Right now, I can’t even send out a flier with my name on it because of the limits on marketing.”
Ontario’s Optometry Act prevents optometrists from soliciting patients through personal contact or communication with potential patients. Similar acts in B.C., Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia ban optometrists from advertising prices.
“More liberty for advertisement would be great,” said Noël. “It might help to promote better pricing and offer the best quality of care.”
Noël agreed with the report’s suggestion to create a new optometry school in western Canada. Universities in Montreal and Waterloo are currently home to the country’s two optometry programs.
The report’s recommendation to allow optometrists to work with other professionals like opticians might not benefit consumers, Noël said.
A large company’s concern for its bottom line could interfere with an optometrist’s independence, he said.
Lawyer Cedric Nahum said he thought diverse practices were positive. Only Ontario and Quebec currently permit lawyers to work in arrangements with other professionals like psychiatrists, private investigators, social workers, criminologists or consultants.
“It allows clients and lawyers to have access to more resources,” he said.
Nahum noted prices are important to clients and advertising would give them a better idea of what to expect before visiting a law office.
“It would make prices more competitive, streamlined and similar between different professionals,” he said.
Law societies regulate the style, content and size of advertisements. Lawyers in Alberta, B.C., Ontario, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan are not allowed to compare their fees to other lawyers in advertisements.
The advertising rules are outdated and not as useful since the markets have changed, said Ferron. Many regulations were created with consumer protection in mind. Now, the Competition Act protects Canadians from false information and fraudulent advertising.
“A lot of the rules were drafted without taking competition into consideration,” Ferron added.
The report also recommends reviewing the licensing process for professionals educated abroad. The suggestion makes sense to Centretown pharmacist Lade Egunjobi, who was trained in Nigeria. She wrote two certifying exams and completed a six-month internship in 2003 to become a licensed pharmacist in Canada. Egunjobi now works at the Kent Street Medical Pharmacy.
“Every year the requirements change for foreign professionals. It should be standard,” she said.
Egunjobi said certification in Canada can cost up to $10,000.
“Not all foreign professionals can afford the bridge courses required and to leave work to sit in class,” she said.
The suggestions make business sense, according to an Ottawa social and policy marketing specialist.
“Competition in any of the self-regulated professions should take place because it serves the public interest,” said Jim Mintz, director of the Centre of Excellence for Public Sector Marketing. “Advertising gives information and allows Canadians to make more informed purchase decisions.”
The Competition Bureau does not have jurisdiction over the professions but expects the report to be taken seriously. The agency will re-visit the issue in two years with the professions and publish a final report with their findings.
The time will allow organizations to digest the information, drop outdated regulations and draft new rules, Ferron said.
“The U.K., EU and Ireland have done similar competition studies and found the professional organizations to be very co-operative,” said Ferron. “The bureau expects similar results in Canada.”