Proposed changes to By-law No. 60 regarding annual registration fee

Good day. I’ve viewed your chart for comparison which isn’t I’m using comparable professions. You can’t compare us to pharmacists and chiropractors who can paralyze of kill by prescription medications. The college of nurses is HALF of what we would be prolapsed to pay and they perform invasive procedures regularly. You never had sonography under your wing, now your registrants have doubled yes however you don’t provide any services to us. Sonography Canada offered us free CME’s, journals etc. You are increasing our fee to protect the public. consideration should also be taken into where we work. I work at a clinic level and I’m already drastically underpaid for this profession. I don’t think it’s fair to increase a fee especially without providing any services to your registrants. Be transparent and show us how you’re in deficit with all of your new registrants. I’m all for supporting a College that is here to support and protect me however I don’t feel this is the case. Your direction as a College must change and work for us if you want such financial compensation. Signed, an extremely disappointed sonographer

I do not agree to these changes. The increase is astronomical? This makes me feel upset and taken advantage of, and to make such a proposition of this scale is disrespectful. Not only would this anger people of our professions, this could even deter future members and put the profession in jeopardy, as the needs in healthcare continue to grow.

This proposed increase is excessive! What “financial goals” are we trying to align with? Has any cost saving been proposed like moving the office to a more reasonably priced location? Passing the financial responsibility to the members paying is NOT the best option. Please provide complete transparency for this irrational decision

I strongly oppose to the proposed changes to the fee. Referring to the annual fee for Ontario Profession colleges. 1. We have a greater number of registrants. The college is able to more due to larger number of members. 2. Looking at the top 1/3 of the list; those registrants have a larger income. I feel the table should include the salary of each profession to give us more insight. We should be below 22 of 25! It is absurd to implement 37% increase in fees without sharing detailed financial information.

The CMRITO needs to be completely transparent about where this increase in funds is specifically going. We technologists have not had a 37% increase in pay so I do not know how we are expected to pay this much of an increase in dues. With the addition of sonographers to the CMRITO in recent years I believe the dues should have actually gone down

With the cost of living being so high at the moment. The $173 increase is outrageous. Our salaries did not increase substantially in the last decade. Maybe CMRITO should consider a less expensive office location as this might cut the cost. I will discourage every single person I know who wanted to join this field.

A 37% increase in annual registration fees is excessive. Compared to other regulatory colleges CMRITO collects significantly more revenue from member's fees; CMRITO = $6,042,855 QC = $3,364,815 NS = $355,950 AB = $1,208,700 NB = $120,185 Other regulatory colleges manage with far less revenue. Have there been any attempts by CMRITO to cut costs first instead of passing the cost along to its members? Where is the transparency in spending? Why are meetings costing over $200,000??

Outrageous!!!

Living expenses is high at the moment $643 per year would be a big hit

Judging by your registrants’ responses, I suggest you tread carefully. Perhaps a forensic audit of your organization’s finances should occur?

We already pay exponentially more than other health care professionals. With the cost of living rising so high and lack of adequate wage increases over many years this will cause more strain for many.

I am writing to express my strong opposition to the proposed increase in the annual registration fee. I have serious concerns regarding the College’s rationale behind this drastic hike, and I believe it is unfair to impose such a burden on Medical Radiation Technologists (MRTs) without clear justification or tangible benefits for registrants. Here are my main concerns: Lack of Transparency and Benefits for Technologists: You mention “financial goals” as the reason for this fee increase, but what exactly are these goals, and how do they benefit technologists? Why is there a deficit to begin with? What is the College doing with our money that has led to this situation? MRTs are expected to pay more to "benefit the public," yet this is irrelevant to us. The College’s focus should not be on MRTs funding public protection through their hard-earned money .The College's mandate is to protect the public, not represent MRTs, it is extremely unfair to make us pay for it. CMRITO has done nothing to advocate for MRTs or improve our profession. If MRTs are required to pay such high fees, there should be clear benefits to us, which I do not see. Unjustifiable Comparison with Other Associations: Please stop comparing your fees to other regulatory colleges. CMRITO does little for MRTs. Comparing fees to organizations that provide greater support and advocacy, like ONA or other professional colleges, is irrelevant. MRTs deserve an explanation of how our fees are being spent and why this increase is justified. Unreasonable Financial Burden: The proposed increase is nothing short of an excessive financial burden, especially during these challenging times. It feels like robbery, and I find it incredibly disheartening that the College is demanding more from MRTs, many of whom are already struggling to make ends meet. Stakeholder Interests Over MRTs: This increase feels like it benefits stakeholders more than the technologists who fund the College. Shame on those who prioritize financial gain at the expense of hardworking MRTs. We deserve better than to have our hard-earned money taken without a clear benefit in return. I urge the Council to reconsider this decision. It is deeply frustrating to feel as though the organization that is supposed to represent and regulate us is instead focused on draining our hard-earned money. MRTs deserve better.

What is the justification of the registration fee increase? Just showing that we pay less than other colleges does not mean a 37% increase in fees. What financial sustainability are your referring to? Let the members see the numbers and where the fees are going too. If you cannot provide more information other than "the proposed annual registration fee will continue to be lower than 21 of the 25 other RHPA Colleges" does hold and value and it just seems like a money grab.

We can all hopefully agree that financial hardship has become a growing issue to everyone. Cost of living, stagnant wages, and ongoing additional expenses that pop up constantly. There is an understanding that things can increase in cost, but this is a very gradual increase. With things increasing the natural flow of things would be for wages to increase as well. The healthcare field has become increasingly more demanding over the years, especially after COVID. We deal with a lot more than we use to, and our stress levels are a lot higher. We work hard in the field, try to provide the best care and attention that we can, be we are starting to burnout. Unlike most of the professions you have listed that are regulated and paying more for their registration fee, they earn significantly more. There is no comparison. Most of us are not only paying for CMRITO, we have other annual fees to pay for our profession as well, aside from PLI. This wage increase that is being proposed is unjust and will have quite the impact on families. Look for financial aid elsewhere, please don't burden your registrants.

When our licensing and professional fees and CME fees and insurance fees combined are far more expensive compared to other professionals earning much higher salaries, there is a problem (ex. engineers). Not every MRT is working fulltime. Not every MRT is at the top of the salary scale.

That is an absurd jump in fees. RN's in Ontario only pay 452 dollars for registration and they are paid more than us! I absolutely do not support this.

NO. This increase is not justified knowing that you do not protect us for liability. What are the benefits of being part of a professional order as a worker? Our license is already too expensive, and you want to increase it by 37%. That makes no sense.

I am not in favor for this outrageous increase. Seems an excessive amount for the service we get. No proposal or offers for continuing education and no liability insurance included.

I strongly oppose any membership fee increase by the CMRITO, especially one of such unreasonable magnitude that has been met with such enmity by the membership. There has been little transparency in the use of funds and no indication that any measures have been taken to reduce costs as a primary course of action before proposing a fee increase of 37%. With liability insurance and membership fees for other associations, sonographers will be paying close to $1000 a year for the privilege to work in their field. An entire weeks pay or more for some to ensure they can continue to earn a livelihood. That is absurd. Instead, I believe the CMRITO should be working to lower fees to be inline with other regulatory bodies from other provinces. In addition, CMRITO should release a complete in-depth list of expenditures, including staff salaries and justification for monthly $30,000 rent fees, to ensure financial transparency and reestablish the trust among members. 

In my opinion, limits should be set by the government on the amount, if any, a college is able to raise fees. There should also be the creation of an avenue for members to vote on decisions of this magnitude. We as a membership should be lobbying government bodies to create more policies to govern regulatory colleges to ensure members are protected from exploitation and can continue to practice freely in their respective fields without financial hardship. A regulatory college should not be allow to raise fees at such an astronomical rate that is such a gross mismatch to the rate of inflation without full financial transparency and approval from the membership. Wages have remained stagnate or rose a mere 1% over the course of the last couple of years, while there has been record high inflation. Yet, where was the CMRITO to advocate on behalf of their membership? To demand better wages and respect for frontline healthcare workers over the course of the pandemic? Silent. To even propose a 37% fee increase in the current economic climate and while in the midst of an MRT shortage is absolutely irresponsible and tone-deaf. Why should the membership that has received abysmal support from your organization during the pandemic and wage freeze, be responsible for covering the CMRITOs poor financial decision making? Especially when licensing in every over province is less than the price of the CMRITO membership, some even with provided liability insurance. So the question is, with almost double the fee and no responsibility to provide liability insurance, how is the CMRITO so much more fiscally irresponsible when compared to some other provinces? 
The worst part is, MRTs have no options for any recourse if the CMRITO decides to opt for the highly controversial fee increase. In my eyes, this has created essentially an autocracy, where MRTs have no option but to pay whatever fees the college deems appropriate, however, exorbitant, or lose their livelihoods. It is absolutely unfair, unaffordable, unjustified and will certainly be detrimental to both MRTs and the people of Ontario. We need more accountability and responsible spending from the CMRITO.

This is a very steep increase which I don't believe takes into consideration the various fields an MRT works in to assist the population to access specialized services. Working in a IHF setting, there are no unions to fight for pay increases. The 1 or 2 MRT working in a particular private clinic has no benefits, pension, sick or bereavement days, health or drug plans, paid education days or paid conferences nor annual cost of living pay hikes. Some of us are still getting paid the same hourly-rate as 3-4 years ago. Recently the split between CAMRT and OAMRS has also caused hardship and have to decide between access to Con.Ed or LPI. I think the college has to do a thorough study to find out what the hardship their members are going through before 'painting them all with the same brush' and slapping a steep fee increase on all.