Public Consultation: Proposed Changes to PEO’s Continuing Professional Development Program

Notice stage: Proposal

Proposal posted: April 9, 2026

Comment period: April 9, 2026 - April 17, 2026
 

Introduction

Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO) is seeking feedback on proposed changes to its Continuing Professional Development Program (currently titled Practice Evaluation and Knowledge (PEAK) program). These changes aim to ensure the program furthers PEO’s public interest mandate and supports licence holders in their professional learning across all career stages. The proposed changes are intended to support meaningful learning across varying career paths and stages.
 

Background

PEO currently administers a continuing professional development program through the Practice Evaluation and Knowledge (PEAK) program. The program requires licence holders to participate in ongoing learning activities and report on these activities to PEO. 

Following internal review and stakeholder engagement in fall 2025, PEO has identified proposed changes to its CPD program. This proposal also reflects evolving regulatory practices among engineering regulators across Canada, as well as ongoing discussions regarding harmonization of a national framework for continuing professional development. PEO is now seeking public feedback to inform the development of a final proposal that will be considered by Council later in 2026.
 

CPD Program Objectives

PEO regulates the practice of professional engineering in Ontario in the public interest and licenses Professional Engineers. Continuing Professional Development requirements are a standard element of professional regulation, serving a variety of purposes depending on the jurisdiction and profession. As part of this review, PEO identified the following core program objectives:

1. The CPD program must support PEO’s overall responsibility to ensure licence holders remain competent throughout their careers: PEO’s legislative responsibility is to regulate the engineering profession in order that the public interest may be served and protected.
    
2. The CPD program must support continuous learning that contributes to the ongoing maintenance of competence among its licence holders: The primary goal of a mandatory CPD program is to ensure licence holders are undertaking learning activities that support the maintenance and enhancement of their professional knowledge, skills, integrity, and professionalism over the course of their careers.
    
3. The CPD program needs to work for differing career paths and stages: our licence holders engage in a wide range of professional roles and roles change over the course of a career. It is important that the CPD program support learning for licence holders at all stages of their careers.

Proposed changes to the program, outlined below, were informed in light of these core objectives and, more broadly, PEO’s mandate to regulate the practice of professional engineering and to govern its licence holders in order that the public interest may be served and protected.
 

Overview of Proposed Changes

The proposed continuing professional development framework would update and clarify several elements of the program while maintaining its core purpose. The key proposed changes are outlined below.

1. Program Name
   • Proposal:  Renaming the Practice Evaluation and Knowledge (PEAK) program as the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Program.
   • Rationale: This aligns PEO with the terminology used by almost all other professional regulators across Canada and clearly communicates the program’s core function to licence holders and members of the public.
      
2. Practice Declaration
   • Proposal: Establish the practice status (practising/non-practising) declaration as an ongoing licensing requirement separate from the CPD program.
   • Rationale: This simplifies the CPD reporting portal and ensures that practice-related data is captured consistently during the licensing cycle.
      
3. Self-Assessment 
   • Proposal: The Professional Practice Questionnaire will be replaced with a Professional Development Self-Assessment that will guide licence holders in identifying their specific learning needs based on their unique area of practice and professional role. 
   • Rationale: The Professional Development Self-Assessment is intended to establish at the outset of the program that the primary goal is to engage in development and learning opportunities that serve the individual needs of the licence holder. This change addresses feedback from stakeholders that the questionnaire approach was too subjective and not based on substantiated risk factors, and that the program’s design should focus more on supporting quality learning rather than “collecting” hours that may or may not represent meaningful professional development.
      
4. Annual CPD Hours Requirement
   • Proposal: Establish a uniform minimum requirement of 12 hours of CPD annually.
   • Rationale: Assigning the same number of hours for all licence holders who are not exempt from the requirements of the program – the approach taken by most other engineering regulators – recognizes that there are risks inherent in all professional work and that CPD is an important professional expectation regardless of the type of work one does. Twelve (12) hours is proposed as the minimum because it corresponds to 1 hour per month and is consistent with the average number of hours currently assigned using the PEAK questionnaire.
      
5. Learning Activity Categories
   • Proposal: CPD activities must relate to engineering practice activities but can include any portion of both “priority” and “supplementary” topics*. 
   • Rationale: This approach recognizes that licensees are best positioned to determine what professional development areas will most support their practice and that for some, prioritizing non-technical skill development will serve them best.
      
6. Exemptions and Extensions
   • Proposal: Establish grounds for exemptions and extensions beyond fee remission (although those on fee remission will continue to be exempt from the program), including for legal (e.g., Human Rights Code accommodation), equitable (e.g., parental leave) and compassionate grounds. 
   • Rationale: The eligibility criteria for fee remission are prescribed in regulation; however, they do not capture all circumstances in which an exemption from CPD participation or extension of time may be appropriate. Accordingly, these new exemption criteria will provide needed flexibility to address a broader range of circumstances that cannot be exhaustively prescribed in advance. 
      
7. Reporting Cycle
   • Proposal: Establish a single, consistent annual deadline for all program elements.
   • Rationale: This replaces the current two-step reporting system, reducing the administrative workload of completing the program. The requirement to report on CPD activities undertaken but only provide documentation upon request will remain unchanged.
      

Program Elements that Will Not Change

• Retention of the PPM: The Professional Practice Module (PPM) will remain a core requirement. This module ensures all engineers stay current on Ontario-specific regulatory topics, ethics, and professionalism. 
• Acceptability of all learning formats: The program will maintain the current practice of not restricting the learning format or activities undertaken for CPD purposes if the substance is relevant to the practice of engineering. 
• Documentation requirements: Licence holders required to complete CPD activities must retain proofs of their activities for three years in case they are selected for an audit. 
• Penalties for non-compliance: Existing responses to non-compliance will be maintained. This includes the possibility of administrative suspension for non-compliance.
   

Feedback Welcome

We want to hear from all stakeholders -- licence holders, employers, partner organizations, and members of the public. Your feedback is essential to ensuring the program is fair, effective, and responsive to the needs of both the profession and the public. When providing input, you may wish to consider the following questions:

• Does the program, in whole and in each of its components, meet the following objectives: 
  • support PEO’s overall responsibility to ensure licence holders remain competent throughout their careers (as one component of a broader system of accountability),
  • support continuous learning that contributes to the ongoing maintenance of competence among its licence holders, and
  • accommodate differing career paths and stages.
• Does the program appropriately balance PEO’s responsibility to ensure CPD activities are being undertaken with respect for professional judgement regarding what learning activities will suit one best?
• Are there any concerns or suggestions about the program’s approach that we should consider?
   

Next Steps

Feedback received through this consultation will inform the development of a detailed proposal for potential updates to the CPD program. The detailed proposal will be presented to PEO Council for consideration later in 2026. 

PEO thanks all participants for their input on this important initiative.