I know it’s time to renew my registration with CNO for 2026, but why do I need to pay CNO a fee, and what do I get for it? Also, why do RNs and RPNs pay the same fee?
Thanks for writing in with this question. We know that renewal, and the cost, can feel frustrating. Here’s why it matters and what your fee actually does.
Renewal is more than a payment, it’s when you:
- confirm your registration so you can continue practicing as a nurse
- share essential information about where and how you work, which helps us make better decisions for the profession
- complete your annual commitment to reflect on your practice and create a Learning Plan so that you can continuously improve as a nurse.
Nurses often ask us why they must pay a fee to CNO. It’s because nursing is a regulated profession. In Ontario, professionals like nurses, teachers, plumbers, electricians, pharmacists and engineers govern themselves — not the government. That means they set the requirements for entry, create the practice standards, run a Quality Assurance program, and respond to concerns about a member’s competence or conduct through a governing body, like CNO.
Your fees support your day-to-day practice, like when you reach out to us with a practice question or when we develop a new practice standard to support your decision making. Other times, they help to advance the nursing profession, allowing us to create new and innovative programs. One example is the Supervised Practice Experience Partnership, which has matched more than 6,560 applicants with more than 824 employers, providing them with practice experience needed to become a nurse. Your fees have also helped to create efficiencies, including making it more seamless for nurses from other Canadian jurisdictions to work in Ontario. They also help us evolve the profession with changes like RN prescribing — an evolution that keeps nurses at the forefront of patient access to care.
This work is all shaped by you, Ontario’s nurses! Not only do nurses work at CNO, sit on CNO’s Council and run the committees that oversee our work, you also provide direct feedback that informs decision-making. For example, so far this year, we’ve sent out 20 surveys to nurses about various nursing initiatives and received over 15,830 responses. Thank you for shaping the future of nursing with us!
One question we’ve receive often is about the cost of annual renewal. We make every effort to keep fees among the lowest of any regulated health care profession in Ontario, and only raise them when absolutely necessary. When we did increase fees, it wasn’t a decision we made lightly. To lessen the burden of the most recent increase, CNO’s Council voted to spread out the increase incrementally over three years, from 2024-2026. This is the last year of that planned increase.
To answer your last question about why RPNs and RNs pay the same amount, the answer is that the cost of regulation is the same for all nurses. Our processes and resources don’t change based on your designation, and we don’t set nurse salaries. Charging different fees would be unfair.
I’m grateful you took the time to write to us, and I hope you found this helpful. And on behalf of all of us here at CNO, thank you! Thank you for being a nurse and thank you for renewing your commitment to this profession.
Sincerely,
Michael DoCouto
Director, Registration & Customer Service