Veterinary Access

Veterinarian's Act Regulations

Access to Veterinary Drugs, Vaccines and Drenches

Canadian sheep farmers have signed on to the white paper authored by organizations representing Canada’s farmed animal producers that was prepared for the federal government in August 2024. This document states, “Due to various barriers detailed in this Whitepaper, Canadian farmers’ and veterinarians’ access to such tools is virtually at a crisis point, which is compounded by the fact that the number of currently approved and available tools is eroding at a significant rate. The result is that Canadian farmers and veterinarians are forced to rely on an increasingly limited number of tools – many of which are also important in human medicine. Not only does this have implications for animal and human health, it places Canada at a competitive disadvantage compared to other countries who do have access to such tools.”

There are a number of solutions outlined in the paper that have been presented to Health Canada. The most relevant solution for Ontario’s sheep producers is to address the barriers to accessing veterinary pharmaceuticals that disincentivize companies from marketing their products in Canada.

OSF endorses the white paper titled, “Improving access to veterinary pharmaceuticals, veterinary health products, livestock feeds and veterinary biologics in Canada,” and recommends the federal government adopt the nine solutions detailed within the paper.

Veterinarian Shortage
The availability of small ruminant animal veterinary care in Ontario has reached a crisis point in Ontario. This deficit is continuously growing as large animal veterinarians retire without replacements. Many of our members have vets further than 100 kms away from their farm and in northern Ontario it is even further. Farmers also contact OSF monthly to share the news of clinics closing or ending services for small ruminant clients. There is great concern among our members that emergency care will not be available when it is needed for livestock farmers as a result of the increasing veterinarian shortage and the wide geographic coverage area of most large animal clinics.
The provincial government has announced the addition of 20 new veterinarians per year through a northern school that we hope will focus their career on large animals. The addition of this new school in the north and the money announced for graduates that choose to practice in rural Ontario is positive.
It is important to increase the number of veterinarians that practice in rural and northern Ontario to avoid overstretched practitioners without support. We also think it is important to increase the number of small ruminant specialists in Ontario. Our members have shared that even though they have a large animal vet, that vet predominantly serves cattle farms and does not have small ruminant expertise.

OSF recommends the federal government monetarily support the provincial government’s efforts to increase the number of veterinary students in Ontario for those wanting to pursue large animal practices and increase incentives for small ruminant veterinarians to increase capacity across Ontario.