Message from the President: New By-law 53 approved at 2025 Annual Meeting
“The new By-law will give members more opportunities to join the Board*, sit on the Nominating Committee, and shape CMPA governance. It will also strengthen our ability to be flexible and adaptable.”
In a historic vote by members, CMPA’s new By-law 53 was approved by the membership at the 2025 Annual Meeting.
Dr. Birinder Singh, CMPA President
Next steps: By-law 53 to Parliament
CMPA was created by an Act of Parliament. As such, amending our By-law is a complex and lengthy process.
As members have approved By-law 53, we must now go to the federal government to receive cabinet approval and seek an Order in Council in order to approve the amendments to our By-law.
If approved by Cabinet, By-law 53 will go into effect 1 month after it has been published in the Canadian Gazette. The size of the Board will transition gradually from 31 to 25 using the rules outlined in Article 12 of By-law 53. Until then, CMPA will continue to adhere to By-law 52.
Read more
By-law 53 brings more opportunities to shape governance
The new By-law 53 will give members more opportunities to shape CMPA governance, including:
- Being elected to the Board
- Being appointed to the Board
- Sitting on the Nominating Committee
What’s new: more flexibility to support members
By-law 53 will also
- Make CMPA more agile
- Provide opportunities to strengthen skills and diversity across our Board
- Support strong decision-making
As our governance and By-law evolve, CMPA will continue to be there for members with compassionate support, medico-legal protection, and data-driven learning and research to help reduce risk.
Have questions? Contact us at [email protected].
Best,
Birinder
*Currently known as Council, but to be referred to as the Board in all information about the amended By-law.
Read the new By-law 53
Why are we modernizing our governance?
Our members are clear. They want a responsive and agile CMPA with a governing Board that is positioned to respond to changes in the healthcare and medico-legal environment.
With member support, we have been working to modernize our governance model, building from our position of strength, to set us up for continued success.
How did we get here? Years of engagement and consultation
- In 2022, a motion to review our governance model was approved by the membership. This motion was very timely as the Board had already begun to explore modernizing governance.
- Following the motion, we consulted with members, engaged with experts, and conducted research to build a series of recommendations to enhance our governance model for years to come.
- At the 2024 Annual Meeting, members voted to approve recommendations to enhance our governance model: Modernizing CMPA Governance: Governance Review Report [PDF].
- Following the vote, we developed By-law 53 whose amendments incorporated the recommendations and brought them back to members for vote at the 2025 Annual Meeting.
- By-law 53 approved by members at the 2025 Annual Meeting.
- NEXT: seek Parliamentary approval for By-law 53. If approved, By-law 53 will go into effect. Change in Board composition will occur gradually and responsibly.
CMPA’s By-law and Governance Manual explained
To understand CMPA’s approach to modernizing governance, it’s best to first understand the connections between our By-law and our Governance Manual.
The By-law consists of the hard-coded rules and regulations that govern CMPA – what we do.
The By-law requires approval from the federal Cabinet and was last amended 15 years ago.
The Governance Manual sets out our procedures, policies, processes, and operating guidance – how we do things.
The Governance Manual is managed by the CMPA Board and is regularly updated.
Key approved amendments in By-law 53
While the new By-law 53 in its entirety will strengthen our ability to support members, there are 6 approved changes we’d like to highlight which will significantly increase members’ access to governance and foster agility.
Note about language: The following videos walk you through the key amendments. These videos were developed before By-law 53 was approved by members at the 2025 Annual Meeting. As such, the videos use language such as “proposed amendments.”
Key approved amendments
All videos in the “2025 Proposed By-law amendments” series have the same introduction. To skip the introduction, please advance to 02:21.
- The Board will be comprised of 15 to 25 positions, strengthening CMPA’s agility and facilitating responsive decision-making.
- We will maintain elections in each geographical area, ensuring geographic diversity.
- To support access to the Board, any CMPA member in an area with open positions may submit their candidacy to the Nominating Committee.
Navigate video
Context
- CMPA’s Board is national in scope and represents all of Canada. CMPA members currently elect Board directors (known currently as Councillors) by geographical area. While Board directors bring unique insights from their geographical areas, they owe a fiduciary duty to the Association and support CMPA’s work at a national level. This will not change.
- The Board will continue to determine the number of positions in each geographical area. The current By-law provides a minimum threshold of “no fewer than 1” elected Board position in each area. It also dictates the number of geographical areas for election.
- With a smaller Board, the proposed By-law will shift to state that each geographical area must have “at least 1” elected Board position. Additionally, the number of geographical areas will be determined by the Board and set out in the Governance Manual.
- We know that representing the diversity of practice from across the country is crucial to members. The Board will focus on maintaining appropriate geographic diversity and will specify when more than 1 position is needed for a geographical area.
- Each year, the Nominating Committee will call for and assess candidate submissions for open positions and recommend a slate of candidates, preserving CMPA members’ ability to participate in elections.
All videos in the “2025 Proposed By-law amendments” series have the same introduction. To skip the introduction, please advance to 02:21.
- The Board will include positions elected at a national level, enabling CMPA to adjust the Board composition to better reflect the makeup of the membership (e.g. specialties, skills, career stages, geographical areas)
- Increasing access, any CMPA member across the country may submit their candidacy for consideration by the Nominating Committee and election by the membership.
- All CMPA members can vote on national level positions when elections occur.
Navigate video
Context
- CMPA’s Board is national in scope and represents all of Canada. This will not change.
- As laid out in the Governance Manual, the Board will have the ability to determine the desired attributes, skills, specializations, practice locations, and competencies to be considered for national positions. They will also determine the number of national positions available each year, looking at the needed skills and attributes.
- Currently, there is 1 national Board position allocated to a resident. This position will be sunset, as residents will be able to seek nomination for any other open positions (see Maintaining balance of specialties for more details).
- Each year, the Nominating Committee will call for and assess candidate submissions from members across Canada (including residents) and recommend a slate of candidates for election (the slate is approved by the Board). Additionally, increasing opportunities to participate in elections, all members will be able to vote on national positions (when an election occurs).
All videos in the “2025 Proposed By-law amendments” series have the same introduction. To skip the introduction, please advance to 02:21.
- To round out the skill and diversity needs of the Board, the By-law sets out the ability to appoint up to 4 members-at-large as needed.
- Increasing access, any CMPA member will have the opportunity to be considered for an appointment as a member-at-large.
Navigate video
Context
- The appointed physician positions will be used to optimize the Board’s skills and diversity and ensure the Board reflects various viewpoints and lived experiences. The positions will also provide an opportunity to address representation, e.g. appointing a rural physician if rural diversity is lacking.
- The Board will determine when appointments are needed.
- Definitions for the member-at-large positions will be established by the Board and articulated in the Governance Manual, and may include attributes such as medical specialty, resident/early career, skills, practice settings, geographical area, diverse lived experiences, etc.
- Candidates for the member-at-large positions will be reviewed and recommended by the Nominating Committee and approved by the Board.
All videos in the “2025 Proposed By-law amendments” series have the same introduction. To skip the introduction, please advance to 02:21.
- To foster greater renewal, all Board directors will have a 12-year term limit.
- To maintain stability and sustain knowledge, the President’s and Vice President's time in office as senior governors will not count towards their term limits.
Navigate video
Context
- Preserving members’ ability to participate in election, most Board directors will continue to be elected by the membership.
- The President and Vice President are appointed annually by the Board (chosen from existing Board directors) and generally serve for a maximum of 2 years. This supports good governance and will continue.
All videos in the “2025 Proposed By-law amendments” series have the same introduction. To skip the introduction, please advance to 02:21.
- The Board will continue to maintain an appropriate balance of family physicians, specialists, and other physicians.
- This balance will be managed by the Board and set out in the Governance Manual, rather than hard-coded in the By-law – giving us more flexibility to compose the Board to address changing member and organizational needs.
- This will also result in more access to Board positions for residents.
Navigate video
Context
- During our 2024 consultations with members, we heard clearly that maintaining a balance of family physicians, specialists, and other physicians is crucial. We are committed to maintaining an appropriate balance.
- However, the Division A (family medicine) and Division B (other specialties) definitions currently hard-coded in our By-Law use language that no longer captures the diversity of medical practice.
- As such, specific definitions and categories will be removed from the By-law, and we will continue to maintain an appropriate balance using the Governance Manual.
- Leveraging the Governance Manual to manage this important issue will give us more ability to respond to emerging issues and changing needs. Additionally, without the hard code division in the By-law, residents can seek nomination for any open position.
All videos in the “2025 Proposed By-law amendments” series have the same introduction. To skip the introduction, please advance to 02:21.
- The Board nomination process will be streamlined to a single stream to support equal evaluation for all candidates.
- Giving members more influence over candidate selection at the Nominating Committee, CMPA members can sit on the Nominating Committee as members-at-large (selection process to be determined).
- The Nominating Committee can now propose more than 1 candidate for positions elected geographically and nationally, potentially creating a larger slate of candidates for the elections.
- With a larger slate, CMPA members have more opportunities to be involved in governance.
Navigate video
Context
- The current By-law dictates a two-stream nomination process (through the Nominating Committee and through the membership with 10 signatures) which members have told us is confusing. Within this current process, the Nominating Committee can only recommend 1 candidate per geographical area, making the candidate pool quite small.
- With the amended By-law, nominations will now be a single process. All candidates for open Board positions (e.g. national positions or geographical area positions) will be reviewed and recommended by the Nominating Committee, ensuring equal evaluation for all candidates.
- When selecting candidates the Committee may propose more than 1 candidate for each position, increasing the slate and supporting members’ access. Any interested member may be on the ballot as long as they contribute to the sought-after skills and experiences.
- At least 2 of the Nominating Committee positions will be filled by CMPA members who do not sit on the Board, supporting an increase in diverse viewpoints on the committee and helping to mitigate bias. This will also give all CMPA members the opportunity to sit on the committee. The Nominating Committee will be composed of 6-10 members, including the president, with at least half being Board directors and the remainder being CMPA members-at-large.
- Overall, the enhancements to the nomination process and Nominating Committee make-up preserve members’ ability to participate in elections, enhance the slate of candidates, and give the membership more influence over candidate selection.
Years of consultation, engagement, and successful member vote
The path to By-law 53 has been years in the making. For over 3 years, we’ve been consulting with members, engaging in research, and working with experts to modernize our governance model.
- 2022
- Council starts review
- Member motion 2022 Annual Mtg.
- Research & work with experts
- 2023*
- Update & Q&A 2023 Annual Mtg.
- Member survey #1
- Develop initial recommendations
- 2024*
- 4 virtual engagement sessions
- Member survey #2
- July 12 Final Report to members
- 2024 Annual Mtg. Recommendations APPROVED by member vote
- 2025
- Creation of proposed By-law amendments
- 2025 Annual Mtg. By-law 53 APPROVED by member vote
- 2026 and beyond
- Seek Parliamentary approval of By-law 53
- Update the Governance Manual in 2026 and publishing information online
- Progressively decreasing the Board size from 31 to 25
*Ongoing consideration and review of member feedback.
Additional reading
