A Canary in BC's Health Care Coal Mine

Allow me to step out of my comfort zone for a bit of a rant. My wife is a psychologist, an incredibly hard-working, talented therapist who spent years of schooling to earn her Ph.D., followed by ongoing training and supervision. She, like many of her colleagues, cares deeply about her clients and the profession. Over the years I’ve had the privilege of meeting many of her colleagues, and what strikes me is their dedication to patient wellbeing and the ethics of confidentiality that are at the very heart of the therapeutic relationship.

That’s why I can’t help but see a troubling pattern in the new Health Professions and Occupations Act (HPOA) and the draft Quality Assurance bylaws now before us in BC.

On the surface, the government’s rationale is “public protection.” But the details reveal something deeper: a profound loss of trust in health professionals.

• Random access to patient records without consent, justified as “quality assurance.”

• Jurisdiction after leaving practice — regulatory reach continues even if a professional steps away.

• Criminal-level penalties of up to $500,000 or two years in prison for corporations and directors.

• Loss of professional voice in governance, replaced by centralized, government-appointed control.

These are not the hallmarks of a supportive, learning-oriented regulatory environment. They are the instruments of surveillance and deterrence. They reflect a presumption that professionals cannot be trusted and must be tightly controlled. That is not just overreach — it feels like institutionalized disdain for the very people the public depends on to provide care.

Psychologists, nurses, and physicians enter their professions not for glory or wealth, but out of passion, calling, and an ethic of care. To saddle them with expanded disciplinary reach, invasive (and potentially costly) audits, and the erosion of consent-based confidentiality is to undermine the trust between provider and patient — the very trust the government claims to be protecting.

Meanwhile, AI ‘therapy’ apps flood the market with almost no oversight, where harm is far more likely, yet regulation is almost nonexistent.

So yes, I’m biased — I’ve seen firsthand the dedication of psychologists and their colleagues. But bias aside, the pattern here is clear: this is not about partnership, improvement, or even just risk management. It’s about control.

And when policy is motivated by control rather than trust, the costs will be severe: erosion of patient confidence, exodus of talent to other provinces, and a deeper crisis in retaining the health professionals we desperately need. BC doesn’t need legislation that treats its professionals like adversaries. It needs policies that respect their expertise, reinforce patient trust, and build a sustainable workforce for the future.

The HPOA and its bylaws apply to virtually every health profession in the province; nurses, physicians, therapists, dentists, pharmacists, and many more. So if you think it won’t touch your life, your family, or your community, it’s worth asking: which sectors and professions will the government target next? This is how illiberal democracies rise — by eroding trust, sidelining professionals, and consolidating control. And history shows they rarely stop there.