Thank you very much for having us. Good afternoon.
As the registrar of the college, I have responsibilities under the statute to protect the public, the public interest, and the health and safety of the public of Ontario. Our mandate does not include advocacy for the profession; it does not include anything involving protection for the profession. As a regulatory body, we are governed by statute, as Dr. Trainor has said, and that is our mantra.
The issue of drug prescription, particularly with opioids, has been in the forefront not only of the college, as Dr. Trainor has outlined and as Dr. Mock will explain in a minute, but it has also been at the forefront of the thinking of the government of Ontario. It produced a document through the Health Professions Regulatory Advisory Council, which is the Minister of Health and Ontario's key statutory advisory committee.
I have copies of it here and will make brief reference to it. I apologize that it is in English only—
but it is not my document. It comes from the Ontario government.
I have not translated it. It is an Ontario document and I've just given you what the Ontario government has produced. I hope that for this session you will look at it. I think it has an impact on what you might be doing, analyzing, and discussing.
I understand there is a procedure that you have. Again, I apologize. This is not a document that the college produces. If you see our magazine, you will see that features of it are bilingual. If you looked at our website, you will see that features of it bilingual. But this is from the Government of Ontario.
I've given it to the clerk, Mr. Chair.