OMA elections: Frequently asked questions

Two member proposals, which were presented to members at the 2026 OMA Annual General Meeting, were passed and resulted in the following changes to the OMA bylaws governing elections:

• The removal of non-physician director references and the increase of physician directors to 10 (11 including president)

• Language ensuring that all eligible candidates are presented on the election ballot (all shortlisting processes previously introduced have now been removed)

Learn more about the background and context to these changes.

With the decision by members at the 2026 AGM to move to an all-physician board, there are seven physician director vacancies on the board this year:

• Six (6) 2-year term positions
• One (1) 1-year term position

The six (6) 2-year term positions will be filled by the six candidates who receive the most votes in the election. The 1-year term position is resulting for a mid-term vacancy and will be filled by the seventh-place runner-up in the election, subject to appointment by the board. In accordance with OMA board policy, midterm vacancies must be filled by appointment.  

Seven physician board director positions will be filled through this year’s election process. This reflects members' decision at the 2026 AGM to move to an all-physician board. 

Six of the positions are for regular two-year terms. As is standard practice, the six candidates who receive the most votes will fill those positions. 

The seventh position is different. It is a one-year position because it fills the remainder of an existing board term that became vacant during the transition to an all-physician board. 

Under the OMA’s rules, a mid-term vacancy may be filled by appointment by the board, rather than directly through the election. For that reason, the candidate who finishes seventh in the member vote will be put forward to the board for appointment to the one-year position. This process was selected by the board to maximize democratic process. 

With the Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations Act (ONCA) in full effect as of 2024, external legal counsel recommended that we update our voting method to ensure we are better aligned with the legislation as it pertains to the election of board directors. 

ONCA requires that board directors be elected by “ordinary resolution”, which means they receive a simple majority of the votes cast. In the event that an elected candidate doesn’t receive the required majority (more than 50 per cent +1 of votes cast), the results are brought forward to members at the OMA’s Annual General Meeting for ratification. This will satisfy the ONCA requirement. 

Voting for all other constituency positions does not require they be elected by ordinary resolution, as the ONCA requirement does not pertain to these elections. 

Board director and president-elect candidates will be asked to self-disclose their publicly accessible social media accounts, and links to those accounts will be included in their candidate overview on the OMA candidate webpage for voters to review for themselves. Formalized, third-party social media checks will not be performed, and there will be no OMA screening, assessment, or commentary on the content of candidates’ accounts.

Constituency group nominees will not be asked to self-disclose their social media accounts or undergo formalized, third-party social media checks.

The OMA reviews all election policies and practices annually. This past year, the review evaluated the role of social media checks. An environmental scan was conducted, and feedback from candidates and voters was compiled and analyzed. 

Based on the annual review, the board decided it was more appropriate for members to independently review a candidate’s social media content, if they so choose, to inform their vote.

The OMA Board, through the Governance and Nominating Committee (GNC), provides oversight for the OMA’s election policies and procedures to ensure fairness, transparency, and alignment with governance best practices. The immediate past president, on behalf of the board, oversees the election itself. Member engagement is a shared priority for the president-elect, president, and immediate past president, and through their ongoing connection with members, the immediate past president is well-positioned to oversee and promote this important democratic process.

The board of directors, as individuals and as a collective, exercises its duties of oversight, care, skill, diligence, integrity and transparency to ensure effective, efficient and agile board performance that leads to OMA mission realization.

Individual board directors do not represent the interests of any single constituency group, but the interests of all members.

The board duties include the following:

• Provide strategic oversight to the CEO’s management of OMA business and the integrity and effectiveness of all governance affairs of the OMA
• Provide advice and guidance on matters related to risk management and financial stewardship
• Exercise power, as appropriate, according to OMA bylaws, governance policies, and applicable laws and regulations
• Protect the best interests of the OMA, as a whole, and not the interests of any specific stakeholder entity or constituency
• Consistently be guided by high integrity and ethics when executing responsibilities
• Act in good faith and demonstrate fiduciary duty to the OMA and its membership

The OMA Board’s matrix of core competencies and skills was refreshed based on advice from our third-party partner, Promeus Inc., consultation and review by the board and OMA staff, and is now comprised of the following (not in ranked order):

• Governance & Fiduciary Oversight*
• Healthcare System & Professional Insight
• Strategic & Transformational Thinking
• Financial, Risk & Business Acumen*
• Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Accessibility (EDIA)
• Member Engagement, Influence & Advocacy
• Digital, Data & Innovation*

* Skills identified as priority areas for 2026-27 recruitment.

Promeus Inc., who supports the recruitment and nomination process, will use this skills matrix during their interview process and in support of the creation of the president-elect and board candidate profiles.

Formal governance roles, on a board or equivalent, committee or oversight leadership, executive or operational roles with fiduciary responsibility, elected or appointed leadership in complex organizations, and other external equivalent experience such as serving on a tribunal, commission, or advisory council with decision-making authority and fiduciary obligations.

This list of positions may give rise to a potential or real conflict of interest and would disqualify them from sitting on the board as a director or board observer:

1. Being a paid employee in an executive capacity of the MOH (including any government agencies that report to it), which includes positions with titles that include the following:
   
   
   • Vice-president
   • Chief medical officer of health
   • Provincial chief nursing officer
   • Provincial medical director
   • President titles
   • CEO titles
   • Chief, clinical quality
     
     
2. A member of the executive/board/council of an external medical professional advocacy organization
3. Serving on the executive of a section, district or advocacy arm of a section/ district (i.e. committee) 

The following is a list of positions that would not disqualify a person from serving as an OMA director, but it would be appropriate for these positions to be disclosed, and steps to mitigate any potential conflict of interest may be required. Volunteer roles when the volunteer has a fiduciary duty to two separate organizations.

• Serving on a political party in anything more than a consulting capacity
• Serving in municipal politics
• A paid position with a pharmaceutical company
• A member of the CMPA Council
• Paid position in media, i.e. journalist
• A hospital paid position, such as chief of staff, etc.

Physician candidates are eligible to hold office as outlined in the OMA bylaws. They must:

• Be an OMA member
• Reside or practise in Ontario
• Not hold a certificate of registration that is suspended or has been revoked by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario
• Have not surrendered, resigned, or not renewed their certificate of registration within one year of an investigation by the college or a suspension of their certificate by the college
• Not hold a certificate of registration that is restricted by the CPSO because of a finding of professional misconduct
• Have not been convicted of an indictable offence under the Criminal Code of Canada

Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (EDIA) are among the OMA’s core values. This includes building an association in which all experiences, views and perspectives are represented, especially throughout the governance structure. Our third-party recruitment firm actively recruits candidates to ensure the pool of board director and president-elect candidates reflect the diversity of the OMA’s membership and each candidate will have the opportunity to speak towards their EDIA experience to ensure voters are informed of their EDIA values.

Candidates can be exempt from the reference check process, providing they have had an OMA elections reference check completed within the past 18 months or have participated in the OMA-initiated board director evaluation within the past 12 months.

All OMA members in good standing with an Ontario practice and/or residential address are eligible to vote. As per the elections procedure, the voter list will be frozen at the close of nominations. There are more than 47,000 eligible voters, each with a confidential voting account set up in their name.

Members are invited to vote in the elections for any open board director positions, the president-elect, and in any of their constituency leader positions (e.g., district or section officers) that are open this year, and of which they are a primary member. When a member logs into the voting system, they will automatically see all the polls they are eligible to vote in.

A notice of voting will be sent to all members with instructions on how to vote. Voting takes place online. If a member cannot vote online, they can request a paper ballot, which can be completed and returned by mail. The deadlines to request a paper ballot and return the ballot will appear in the notice of voting and on the elections webpage.

The OMA is committed to accessibility and to removing barriers to member participation. If you have unique needs or face challenges that make it difficult to vote either online or by paper ballot, please reach out to the OMA elections team to discuss ways to support your participation.

All constituency leaders, the president-elect and the new board directors begin their terms at the close of the annual OMA AGM.