The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

tribune january 7 1987 a13 divided nurses college opposed dear editor for the past several years the college of nurses has been involved in a govern ment review of the health pro fessions in ontario one aspect of this review has been to examine the struc ture of the college and its practice of registering both rns and rnas the college council an elected body which estab lishes the goals policies and objectives of the college was told recently that there is a strong possibility rns and rnas will each have its own regulatory body or college in the near future since the beginning of the review in 1983 the college has maintained its position that the two categories of reg istrant should continue to be regulated together the col lege believes that nursing is one discipline that the rn and the rna complement one another in providing care to patients the college of nurses of ontario is responsible for en suring that the public receives safe ethical nursing care from registered nurses and registered nursing assis tants in order to practice as an rn or an rna in ontario an individual must hold the colleges certificate of com petence the college also establishes standards of nursing practice which iden tify minimum expectations for nursing practice by rns and rnas in addition ethical guidelines have been de veloped to help nurses in their practice one of the ways in which the college protects the public is by investigating writ ten complaints about the nurs ing practice of its members as a member of the college council representing region 3 a region with 34365 rns and 81670 rnas working in many different health care agen cies i am frankly very con cerned with the implications of two colleges for the public to begin with the public will need to understand the difference between the two categories of nurses and which organization to contact for information or com plaints the standards of practice currently set by one organization will be set inde pendently with no guarantee of consistency in application there is the possibility that the working relationship be tween rns and rnas will be come foggy and difficult to de fine and i wonder then if the patient care will suffer the colleges mandate is to ensure that safe competent care is provided to the people of ontario by registered nurses and registered nurs ing assistants to divide or separate the nursing disci pline may well weaken that ability the council of the college of nurses in ontario has pledged its support for a single college and voiced a desire to con tinue working together to pro vide protection to the public as an elected college coun cil member for this region i am doing my best to see that it happens if you would like more information about this please call or write me at the number or address below sincerely barbara pollard 117 fairview avenue stouffville l4a 1es phone 6403047 rent review update for tenants and landlords the ministry of housing announces the rent review guideline for 1987 the rent review guideline for 1987 has been calculated at 52 per cent this is the amount by which a landlord can increase the maximum rent for a unit during 1987 without approval from the ministry of housing in passing the residential rent regulation act 1986 the ontario government has created a new system of rent review for the province of ontario to increase protection for tenants and to encourage the construction of new rental housing one of the important features of this new legislation is a rent review guideline that reflects changes in inflation and promotes proper building maintenance for tenants he major features of the residential rent regulation act are the extension of rent review to cover all private rental units in ontario the creation of a streamlined rent review process designedto be accessible quicker and ensure consistency the establishment of a flexible rent review guideline adjusted annually to reflect changes in inflation and other economic factors the creation of an ontariowide rent registry to record the maximum legal rent for every rental unit iii the province a residential rental standards board to ensure the proper maintenance of all rental properties in ontario the guideline has changed until now the guideline has been a fixed amount that did not change with economic conditions the new rent review guideline urill be adjusted annually r will be calculated using the most uptodate components of the consumer priee index and other economic indicators and it will apply to all rental units in the province how the new rent review guideline is calculated the formula used to calculate the 52 per cent guideline for 1987 is based on changes in the cost of maintaining a typical well- run rental building the new guideline calculates the average change in costs over the preceding three- year period tenants receive greater protection in times of high inflation landlords have sufficient funds for good building maintenance a new residential rental standards bodruwill help ensure proper maintenance of rental units through out ontario and failure to meet these standards may result in either suspension or forfeiture of rent increases tenants can apply for a review of rent increases that are at or below the guideline tenants who wish to challenge a 52 per cent guideline increase may apply to the ministry of housing for rent review on such grounds as changes in the standard of maintenance and repairs landlords are required to justify a rent increase greater than the guideline a landlord who requests more than the 52 per cent guideline increase must apply to the ministry of housing for rent review to justify the increase the landlord and tenants will review the matter with staff of the ministry of housing at a local rent review office a decision reached at the local level may be appealed by either the tenant or landlord to the newly- created rent review hearings board the guideline will be announced by august 31 each year in future the ministry of housing will announce the guideline by august 31 for the upcoming year some landlords have already served their tenants with notices of a rent increase due early in 1987 tenants in buildings constructed after 1975 are protected for the first time these are tenants whose units are being brought under rent review by this act landlords who have charged tenants more than the guideline since august 1 1985 will be given a 60day period early in 1987 to justify these increases landlords not applying to rent review within the 60day period must rebate excess rents to tenants for the present tenants should pay the amount requested in the notice from their landlord until the matter is resolved by rent review under no circumstances should tenants make immediate deductions from their rent cteques only one rent increase allowed annually landlords must give tenants at least 90 days written notice of a rent increase the rent for a unit can be increased only once in a 12month period tenants in buildings constructed before 1976 continue to be protected these are tenants whose units were under rent review prior to the passage of the new act and whose units continue to be under rent review if the landlords rent notice is for less than the 52 per cent guideline the tenant should pay the amount in the notice if the landlords rent notice is for more than the 52 per cent guideline the most the tenant should pay is 52 per cent if the landlord has applied to the residential tenancy commission for a 1986 rent increase but has not yet received a final order the tenant should pay the amount in the landlords notice or 4 per cent whichever is less if the landlord has been to rent review and has received a decision the tenant must pay the amount approved by the residential tenancy commission for more information complete and return this coupon r ministry of housing rent review division 4th floor 777 bay street toronto ontario m5g 2e5 yes please send me further information explaining the new rent review guideline name address city l postal code l ministry of housing ontario hon alvin curling minister send today for more information about the new rent review guideline