On December 15, 2009, Bills 175 and 179 received Royal Assent.

Bill 175 is the Ontario Labour Mobility Act (OLMA) which facilitates the mobility of licensed pharmacists from one Canadian jurisdiction to another. Pharmacists from other provinces and territories, who already hold a practicing license, and are in good standing, will simply have to provide that documentation, complete the jurisprudence requirement, make an application and pay their fees to become registered in Ontario. Because of the Mutual Recognition Agreement between provinces, and the Ontario-Quebec agreement, this will now include labour mobility for licensed pharmacists from Quebec.

Bill 179 gives effect to many pieces of legislation promoting interprofessional collaboration and enhanced scopes of practice for many health professionals. With Bill 179, the College will have the authority to draft regulations around the new scope of practice and authorized acts for pharmacists. This will take much consultation with Ontario pharmacists, as well as other pharmacy regulatory authorities and other health colleges within Ontario.

The expectation of government is that Colleges will work collaboratively to ensure that the standards expected for each authorized act are consistent across the professions. Again, these regulations will have to be written, passed by Council, circulated for feedback and ratified by Council before they can be forwarded to government for review.

Finally, Bill 179 gives authority to the College to develop regulations to the Drug and Pharmacies Regulation Act (DPRA) to enable remote dispensing. These regulations will be drafted according to the principles which have been discussed with stakeholders. The regulations must be passed by Council, circulated for feedback to members and ratifiedby Council, before they can be forwarded to government for their review and passing.