CMA Presidency

• How is the CMA president selected?
• Current election timeline
• Determine if you are eligible
• Submit your nomination documents
• Participate in the all-candidates teleconference
• Participate in the election campaign
• 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 is the CMA president-elect selected?

The CMA presidency is rotated alphabetically among the provinces and territories (excluding Nunavut). Each fall, the CMA issues a call for nominations 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 at the CMA General Council meeting in August. If the nominee is ratified, they become CMA president in the subsequent association year.

At the 2022 Annual General Meeting, 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 General Council delegates.

Current election timeline

Determine if you are eligible

To be eligible to be presented 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 Doctors Manitoba  (required under Bylaw 12.3.4);
• have been a member for 5 consecutive years preceding their nomination (required under Bylaw 12.2.2);
• reside in Manitoba; and
• in August 2023, 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 elections@cma.ca.

In order to assess conflicts of interest pursuant to the Code, the CMA conducts background checks (including, without limitation, the following areas: bankruptcy, criminal record, litigation and social media) of all applicants via a third party before their candidacy can be confirmed. 

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; 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 Annual General Meeting to the next) on the CMA Board of Directors: 
  • president-elect from August 2023 to May 2024 (this period is abbreviated by three months owing to the Annual General Meeting moving from August to May in the 2023–24 association year);
  • president from May 2024 to May 2025 (including a co-presidency with the president from British Columbia from May 2024 to August 2024); and
  • past president from May 2025 to May 2026
• three orientation sessions currently scheduled for August 23, September 18 and September 20, 2023
• at least 200 to 220 days working on CMA activities during their year as CMA president; and
• committee responsibilities 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.

How to submit your nomination form

Click here to complete the online form. It should take you approximately one hour to complete. You are not required to complete it in one sitting.

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, sexual identity, ethnicity/race, Indigeneity, disability and regional balance)
• message of intention and focus areas to demonstrate how your vision aligns with the CMA’s strategy, Impact 2040 (500 words or fewer)
• your public-facing, professional/medical (i.e., not personal) social media handles, if any 
• biographical statement of 200 words or fewer (view a sample) 
• head and shoulders photo (minimum 600x600 pixels, JPEG or PNG format) 

Submit the application form by the deadline: November 22, 2022.

If you have any questions or require accommodation throughout the application process, please contact elections@cma.ca.

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.

Information session for all confirmed candidates

Confirmed candidates who submit an application by the deadline will be contacted by the CMA in early 2023 to participate in an all-candidates information session with the immediate CMA past president and staff prior to the election in March. 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. 
• After the president-elect nominee is identified, there is a third-party audit of the elections within 15 business days of the election.
• The results of the election are declared shortly thereafter.

Presidential rotation

Manitoba	Election: 2023  Term: 2024–2025*
New Brunswick	Election: 2024   Term: 2025–2026
Newfoundland and Labrador	Election: 2025   Term: 2026–2027
Northwest Territories	Election: 2026 Term: 2027–2028
Nova Scotia	Election: 2027 Term: 2028–2029
Ontario	Election: 2028 Term: 2029–2030
Prince Edward Island	Election: 2029 Term: 2030–2031
Quebec	Election: 2030 Term: 2031–2032
Saskatchewan	Election: 2031 Term: 2032–2033
Yukon	Election: 2032 Term: 2033–2034

* Due to a change in the date of the Annual General Meeting from August to May in the 2023–24 association year, the terms of the 2023–2024 president from British Columbia and the 2024–2025 president from Manitoba will overlap by three months. They will each serve nine months exclusively as president and for three months as co-presidents for the period of May to August 2024.

Should you require additional information, please contact elections@cma.ca.