Emerging Health Care Profession

On October 27, 2005, the Bureau initiated an inquiry regarding the ability of an emerging health care profession to independently provide services to consumers in Ontario. It was alleged that the emerging profession's ability to do so was being constrained as a result of anti-competitive acts on the part of a competing and dominant health care profession that has an overlapping scope of practice.

This allegation was examined with regard to section 79 of the Competition Act, which prohibits an abuse of dominance. The investigation revealed that there was provincial legislation governing the emerging profession which required that its members obtain an order from the dominant profession prior to treating clients. The Bureau determined that this requirement for an order acted as a barrier to entry for the emerging profession. It was determined that while individual members of the dominant profession may have had economic incentives to use the requirement for an order in an anti-competitive fashion, there was no apparent incentive for the profession to do so as a whole. Further, the dominant profession may have been exercising caution in giving such orders due to apprehension regarding their liability arising from such orders. The regulatory body of the dominant profession has since provided greater clarity for its members in this regard.

The inquiry was discontinued in March 2007.