Nurses pay fees so that CNO can continue its regulatory functions in the public interest, maintaining public confidence and safety, while remaining financially sustainable.

In Ontario, legislation identifies certain professions that are self-regulated to ensure public safety. Nursing is one of these self-regulated professions, along with 25 other health care professions in the province. Members of these professions pay a regulatory body to set and enforce standards and entry requirements. Paying a fee renews a nurse’s ability to practice in Ontario and makes them a contributor in nursing regulation and public protection. It allows nurses to collectively fulfill the profession’s regulatory mandate to protect the public and ensures the public continues to trust nurses.

In June 2023, Council approved a broad set of fee increases for 2024. CNO increases fees only when necessary to remain financially sustainable and has not increased fees in five years.

A few factors contribute to the increased fees at this time. Those include inflationary pressures, initiatives to support government and health care partner needs and investments to upgrade information technology infrastructure and security.

Despite an aggressive approach to controlling costs, without a fee change, operating costs for regulatory functions in the public interest would increase faster than revenues, eventually leading to annual deficits and we would no longer be able to achieve our mandate of public protection.

What we’ve seen over the past several years is that the public expects more from health care providers and regulators than ever before. CNO must keep pace with changes in the health care and regulatory sectors. Application and renewal fees support the important work of protecting the public by promoting safe nursing practice because they are helping us to:

• maintain the registration of approximately 180,000 nurses who were actively practicing in 2023.
• support innovative programs that respond to system challenges, such as the Supervised Practice Experience Partnership (SPEP), which, to date has matched more than 3,200 applicants with more than 650 employers.
• reduce barriers and create registration process efficiencies for labour mobility applicants from other Canadian jurisdictions.
• provide safe and high-quality care to patients by engaging in quality assurance activities that promote self-reflection and life-long learning throughout your careers.
• increase access to quality care across the province through updates to RN prescribing practice standards, which will allow registered nurses who meet requirements to prescribe certain medications and communicate a diagnosis.
• maintain the voluntary Nurses’ Health Program for Ontario nurses, designed to encourage them to seek treatment for substance use and/or mental health disorders that may affect their ability to practice nursing safely.

The 2024 renewal fee for nurses in the General and Extended classes is $340. (With HST, the total is $384.20.) The renewal fee for nurses in the Non-Practising class is $63 before taxes. (With HST, the total is $71.19.)

Learn more about the prices for renewal and application fees.

After accounting for the increase, CNO’s annual fees are still the lowest of any regulated health care profession in Ontario. They are also comparable to, and on the low end of, other nursing regulatory colleges in Canada.

CNO is funded by fees, including renewal fees, to conduct its regulatory functions in the public interest. That includes work like processing applications, providing practice support and customer service, and conducting investigations when necessary. Fees also support initiatives like registration, the Supervised Practice Experience Partnership, modernizing applicant assessment and transforming the Quality Assurance Program.