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Advocating on Behalf of the Veterinary Profession on Parliament Hill
December 19, 2024
I have no experience as a “lobbyist.” I’m not very political. I vote – that’s about it. My public speaking is usually limited to two farmers at a time. But, on November 18 and 19 I joined the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) in Ottawa to round out a team of eight representatives to push MPs and Senators for three specific asks, one of which is to increase the number of veterinarians licensed in Canada.
The CVMA worked with a government relations group to arrange meetings with many MPs, policy writers, and Senators. Two or three of us advocates attended each 30-minute meeting. One person acted as the main spokesperson in each group, with the others contributing to the discussion. Think of the play-by-play announcer, and two colour-commentators. Being new to this, I was a colour commentator, giving experiential examples of the problems caused by the shortage of veterinarians in my practice experience. I mainly do food animal medicine in a mixed practice in Eastern Ontario, so I see the issues in both large and small animal practice arenas caused by the veterinary shortage. I have also done some locum work in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland in the last four years where I witnessed the same problems that extend from delayed animal care to veterinarian mental and physical burnout.
Even though I only had three to four meetings a day, it was a challenging and very interesting process. Meeting times and locations are constantly juggled, and physically meeting MPs requires a procedure similar to airport security. You’re constantly on, reviewing the MP’s background and experience (which may shape the meeting approach) and debriefing afterwards. We were always trying to quickly understand what connections a MP may have that could be to our advantage, or things a MP could do (sharing our concerns with their committees, including our messages in House speeches, or sharing our recommendations with other members who hold pertinent positions) that might advance our cause. Making individual connections through personal information about their families, recreation, education, and previous work experience was helpful.
The actual meeting experience was straightforward with a prepared, specific, clear request with justifications for the ask. Discussion followed and passed almost too quickly as we needed to be on our toes both listening and speaking. Statistics and facts, which are helpful as they may be used in future quotes, were provided in a “leave behind.” We met with various government officials who shared a connection to our profession: one grew up on a beef farm, another’s mother was a veterinarian, someone identified as a cat person, and another just has his dog’s teeth cleaned. I found them to be, surprisingly, more engaged than I expected.
Afterwards, it’s a bit of a high to feel like that maybe, in some small way, I had advanced the cause, if even just slightly, towards improving the profession. It was a unique and worthwhile experience to have a window into our political system and understand how we can have a voice. I came away with the feeling that this needs to be an ongoing process, as the wheels turn slowly and momentum is required to achieve real change. Advocating is needed to serve the ball. It is also critical to keeping the ball rolling.
Ross Goodman, DVM
Almonte Veterinary Services
OVC 1989
P.S. The CVMA has also been on the Hill advocating for increased mental health support for the profession, and changes to the licencing process for veterinary drugs, health products, and biologics to make it more appealing for manufacturers to bring theses products to Canada. For more specific information, please visit canadianveterinarians.net/policy-and-outreach/government-relations.