Final answer:
The College of Nurses of Ontario is responsible for establishing and promoting practice standards for nurses, ensuring safe, ethical, and competent care within the profession.
Step-by-step explanation:
The College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) plays a critical role in maintaining high standards within the nursing profession. Among their key responsibilities is establishing and promoting practice standards for nurses in Ontario. The practice standards are meant to ensure that nurses provide care that is safe, ethical, and competent. The CNO sets expectations for professional behavior and provides guidance on how nurses can meet these expectations in their practice, thus the correct answer to the question would be c) Establishing and promoting practice standards. They do not typically engage in other activities mentioned such as enforcing legal regulations directly (although they may report to regulatory bodies), conducting research studies, or mediating patient disputes—these tasks are handled by other organizations or parts of the healthcare system.