CMA Presidency

• Job of the CMA president
• How the CMA president-elect is selected
• Current election timeline
• Determine if you are eligible
• Submit your application form
• Confirmed candidates
• Information session for all confirmed candidates
• Election campaign guidelines
• Presidential rotation

Job of the CMA president

At any given time, the CMA has: (i) a president who acts as the spokesperson for the association, (ii) a president-elect who serves as a back-up to the president and will act as president the following year, and (iii) a past president who supports the president and president-elect.  Each of these individuals also serves as a director on the CMA Board of Directors.

Click here for more details about the role of the president.

How the CMA president-elect is selected

The CMA presidency is rotated alphabetically among the provinces and territories (excluding Nunavut). Each year, the CMA issues a call for expressions of interest for the president-elect position in the respective province or territory. Members in that province or territory then elect a final CMA president-elect nominee to be presented for ratification by General Council (GC) delegates at the Annual General Meeting (AGM). Some GC delegates are appointed by virtue of their position (e.g., the chair and members of the CMA Board of Directors, the speaker and deputy speaker, the president of each division, and some past officers). Provincial/territorial and affiliate society delegates are members appointed by their respective provincial/territorial medical association or affiliate society to vote in CMA elections. See section 10.2.1 of the bylaws for a complete list. If the president-elect nominee is ratified by GC delegates, they become CMA president in the subsequent association year.

At the 2022 AGM, CMA members voted to remove a provision from the CMA bylaws that had previously allowed candidates from the respective province or territory to bypass the election in the province/territory and be nominated by any 50 CMA members for election by GC delegates.

Current election timeline

Starting in 2024, the CMA AGM will be moving from August to May. This results in the 2023-24 association year being shortened by three months. Accordingly, the CMA president-elect election in New Brunswick will take place in late November 2023 so that it is concluded at least five months before the AGM in May 2024, in compliance with the CMA bylaws (sections 12.3.4 and 12.4.1) and operating rules and procedures (section 14.1).

Below is the timeline of all steps in the process:

Determine if you are eligible

To be eligible to be presented as a candidate for election as CMA president-elect, individuals must:

• be a resident of Canada and a member of the medical profession (required under Bylaw 12.2.1);
• be a member in good standing with the New Brunswick Medical Society (required under Bylaw 12.3.4);
• have been a CMA member for five consecutive years preceding their nomination (required under Bylaw 12.2.2);
• reside in New Brunswick; and
• in May 2024, not be a voting director or sitting president of a provincial/territorial medical association or affiliate society (required under Bylaw 12.2.1 and Operating Rules and Procedures 12.4)

Since the president-elect also serves as a director on the CMA Board of Directors, all applicants are subject to the CMA Board Code of Conduct and Organizational Expectations (“the Code”). If you would like to review a copy of the Code, please email [email protected].  Additionally, the CMA conducts social media background checks  of all applicants via a third party. 

The position of CMA president-elect may be of interest to individuals who:

• are currently practising medicine in the respective province or territory;
• demonstrate interest in the organization of medical care and medical practice;
• possess experience with the physician/community/government interface; 
• are skilled in communications and relationship building; and,
• are recognized as leaders by their peers.

Candidates should be willing to devote the necessary amount of time to this role, specifically:

• three consecutive association years (i.e., spanning from one AGM to the next) on the CMA Board of Directors:
  • president-elect from May 2024 to May 2025
  • president from May 2025 to May 2026 and
  • past president from May 2026 to May 2027
• three orientation sessions in June 2024;
• at least 200 to 220 days working on CMA activities during their year as CMA president; and
• responsibilities as the Nominations Committee Chair by virtue of their office as past president in the third year of their term.

Commitment to equity and diversity

As reflected in its Policy on Equity and Diversity in Medicine, the CMA is committed to equity and diversity, reconciliation and robust processes for inclusion. It is important that the CMA leadership reflects the diversity of the medical profession and the communities it serves to ensure a wide range of experiences, perspectives, attributes and skills to develop better solutions, drive innovation and creativity, and enhance decision-making at the CMA. Applicants are invited to voluntarily self-identify with respect to their diversity attributes and lived experience.

Submit your application form

The call for interest closed on Sept. 11, 2023.

You will need to provide the following: 

• details about your eligibility and contact information
• brief answers to questions regarding your competencies (i.e., lived experience, professional standing and development, and/or academic credentials and preparation) vis-à-vis the role
• brief, optional answers to self-identification questions with respect to various diversity attributes (including age, gender identity, sexual identity, ethnicity/race, Indigeneity and disability)
• message of intention demonstrating how your vision aligns with the CMA’s strategy, Impact 2040, and outlining your experience as a leader, communicator and relationship builder (500 words or fewer)
• your public-facing, professional/medical (i.e., not personal) social media handles, if any 
• biographical statement of  300 words or fewer (view a sample) 
• head and shoulders photo (minimum 600x600 pixels, JPEG or PNG format)

If you have any questions or require accommodation throughout the application process, please contact [email protected].

Please note: Each confirmed candidate’s photo, message of intention, public-facing, professional/medical social media handles and biography will be made available on cma.ca exactly as they are submitted to the CMA, subject only to correction of typographical errors in the text. The CMA has factored accessibility formatting requirements into the nomination timeline and therefore cannot accommodate changes to materials after the deadline.

Confirmed candidates

• Dr. Margot Burnell
• Dr. Jennifer Russell

Information session for all confirmed candidates

Confirmed candidates who submit an application by the deadline will be contacted by the CMA in early October 2023 to participate in an all-candidates information session with the immediate CMA past-president and staff on October 23, prior to the election in late November 2023. The meeting will cover topics such as the role of the CMA president-elect, the CMA’s strategic direction and the elections process and guidelines.

Election campaign guidelines

• Confirmed candidates may begin campaigning once eligibility and background checks are completed. They are asked to abide by the Campaign Guidelines.
• An invitation to vote is emailed to all CMA members in the respective province or territory.
• An election period is established when there are two or more candidates. 
• Voting is conducted electronically by preferential ranked choice ballot, which means that each voter is asked to rank the candidates in order of preference. 
• The voter is not required to rank all candidates.
• Voting takes place via a third-party secure voting site.
• When the voting closes, ballots are tabulated by the third-party election provider to ensure accuracy and compliance with accepted electoral processes. 
• The results of the election are declared shortly thereafter.
• After the president-elect nominee is identified, there is a third-party audit of the elections within 15 business days of the election.

Presidential rotation

New Brunswick	Election: Fall 2023 President term: 2025–26
Newfoundland and Labrador	Election: Fall 2024 President term: 2026–27
Northwest Territories	Election: Fall 2025 President term: 2027–28
Nova Scotia	Election: Fall 2026 President term: 2028–29
Ontario	Election: Fall 2027 President term: 2029–30
Prince Edward Island	Election: Fall 2028 President term: 2030–31
Quebec	Election: Fall 2029 President term: 2031–32
Saskatchewan	Election: Fall 2030 President term: 2032–33
Yukon Territory	Election: Fall 2031 President term: 2033–34
Alberta	Election: Fall 2032 President term: 2034-35
British Columbia	Election: Fall 2033 President term: 2035-36
Manitoba	Election: Fall 2034 President term: 2036-37

Should you require additional information, please contact [email protected].