OMA elections: Frequently asked questions

The immediate past president presides over all elections. Member engagement is a key priority and driver of the work of the president-elect, president and past president. Leveraging their work with the members, the past president is uniquely positioned to oversee the election and promote this 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. Directors of the OMA govern with the goal of enhancing executive decision-making and improving the performance of the organization in serving its members.

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

After the voting system closes on Feb. 7 at 12 p.m., the elections team will begin the process of extracting, verifying and preparing the results for publication. There are numerous steps required in this process, which also combines the acclamation results from the close of nominations into the final report. Later in the evening of Feb. 7, after the candidates have been notified, the general membership will be emailed to announce the availability of the results on the OMA Elections’ Voting & results page.

Any identified real or perceived conflicts of interest will be assessed per the board’s conflict of interest policy.

All candidates were asked to identify potential conflicts through the application form; Promeus Inc. will also identify potential conflicts through their application review and interview process.

Potential conflicts are referred to OMA Legal and are assessed on a case-by-case basis with mitigation recommendations identified and implemented as appropriate. Where conflicts of interest cannot mitigated, candidates may need to reconsider their candidacy. Terms begin in May 2025, any recommendations will be in place prior to terms commencing.

Potential conflicts of interest, for self or a family member, include affiliation with another board, committee, organization, vendor, supplier, or any other party that has a direct or indirect interest in any business transaction or agreement with the OMA or payment of physicians which could result in benefit. It also includes involvement in any pending legal proceedings involving the OMA.

Learn more about OMA’s conflict of interest policy and procedures:
Conflict of interest policy

Conflict of interest assessment tool

Conflict of interest disclosure statement checklist

This list of positions is beyond the circumstances that would give rise to a conflict of interest and whether a director is able to meet their fiduciary responsibilities as a director 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. 

The president-elect candidate town hall will be held on Dec. 12 from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.

After submitting a short self-nomination form, each nominee’s record will be reviewed against the eligibility criteria. To run for the board of directors or president-elect, physician members of the board must be eligible to hold office as outlined in the OMA bylaws and not have exceeded the six-year term limit for directors.

Nominees are confirmed as candidates after submitting a comprehensive application form, which includes a statement of interest, a statement on equity, diversity and inclusion, a CV, identification of potential conflicts of interest, acknowledgment to agree to social media checks, and to comply with all elections policies, procedures and guidelines. Board designations and previous board experience are considered an asset but are not required.

In order to ensure that every OMA member has an opportunity to showcase unique and diverse skills and experiences, all interested applicants who complete this process by the nomination deadline will become confirmed candidates.

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

The board chair will approach each sitting director whose current term is ending to confirm their plans for the upcoming election. In the case where the director holds a non-physician position and is interested in serving an additional term, the director would be presented to the membership as a re-appointed director, providing they meet the requirements outlined below:

• Was initially elected by members through the Single Election Period
• Has not exceeded the maximum term limit
• Continues to meet all eligibility requirements outlined in the OMA bylaws and board recruitment policy
• Meets or exceeds the average board performance determined through the annual board performance evaluation

In cases of a vacancy or where a sitting non-physician director fails to meet or exceed the average performance of the board, Promeus Inc. will continue to facilitate the independent candidate vetting process for the non-physician board director candidates. Potential candidates are assessed (using the same skills matrix as physician candidates) and the OMA conflict of interest policy/board code of conduct and eligibility requirements. Non-physician applicants must have ICD.D (Institute of Corporate Directors), C. Dir (Chartered Director), or an equivalent designation or experience. Shortlisted candidates will go through detailed vetting by Promeus Inc., including reference checks, police record checks and social media checks.

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion 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.

Additional eligibility criteria were not added as a requirement for physician members to run for the OMA Board of Directors. As a member organization, ensuring all members can participate and support their fellow members is critical. Specific credentials and experiences could unintentionally create barriers and prevent skilled and talented members from serving their association.

To offer members a comprehensive understanding of candidate skills and experiences, the board director and president-elect candidates provide a full information package. The wide breadth of information available allows members to learn about the candidate attributes that they value most in choosing the strongest board possible, whether those are clinical and geographic representation, personal statements, a commitment to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, gender, professional experience, or any of a variety of technical and leadership skills.

The OMA approved the initial skills in 2020. This was translated into the skills matrix included in the Promeus Inc. application form. Each year this is refined as necessary on advice by the third-party recruitment firm. The areas of competency are professional knowledge and insight, board governance, strategic, generative & integrative thinking, leadership, transformative change, risk management, communication, financial/business, human resources, innovation, information technology, data & analytics, and equity, diversity & inclusion.

ICD.D
Granted by the Institute of Corporate Directors, the ICD.D designation is a clear demonstration of a director’s commitment to practice and build on the skills and knowledge acquired through the Directors Education Program (DEP) at the University of Toronto. The DEP program is delivered in four three-day modules in cities across Canada. Modules are taught by leading faculty of prominent business schools, some of Canada’s most experienced directors, and leading governance experts.

C.Dir
The Chartered Director (C.Dir.) program is a directors education program. The Chartered Director (C.Dir.) program recognizes both sides of directorship — the “technical and structural” (rules-based) side and the “cultural” (principle-based and behavioural) side. Delivered in five modules, the program is designed for directors currently serving on corporate boards. It is also designed for candidates and senior executives who intend to serve on corporate boards or work closely with boards and want to master the structure and dynamics of corporate governance.

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.

Starting in the 2023-2024 OMA election period, the OMA started performing social media checks for all physician and non-physician board candidates.

These checks are limited to only publicly available information and specifically focus on illegal activity, violent conduct, sexually explicit material, intolerance — all content that would be inconsistent with the OMA’s stated mission, vision and values and Member Code of Conduct and Civility. These checks do not search political opinions, positions, and views about the OMA, the health-care system, the role of physicians in the health-care system, etc.

The fiduciary role of the OMA Board of Directors makes it essential all candidates are assessed as consistently as possible. The social media check includes director and president-elect candidates.

Concerns raised because of social media checks for potential non-physician candidates will result in those individuals being removed from consideration.

Concerns raised because of social media checks of potential physician candidates will need to be addressed on a case-by-case basis with the candidate and OMA legal to determine any impacts on a candidate’s eligibility to hold office.

Members are invited to vote for four physician board directors, one President-Elect candidate and any of their elected constituency leader positions (e.g., district or section officers) that require a vote this year. When a member logs into the voting system, they will see all the polls they are eligible to vote in.

Members may visit the OMA Elections web page at any time during the voting period to access the link to the BigPulse voting platform. Each member has a confidential voting account they can access with their OMA login credentials (OMA number or the email address on file with their OMA record, and password) via OneLogin. The BigPulse system will direct each voter through the polls they are eligible to vote in.

Vote any time during the four-week voting period of Monday, Jan. 13, 2025, to Friday, Feb. 7, 2025. A Notice of Voting will be emailed to voting members when the polls open on Jan. 13, 2025.

All OMA members residing in Ontario are eligible to vote. As per the elections procedure, the voter list will be frozen on Dec. 3 at 5 p.m. at the close of nominations. There are more than 43,000 eligible voters, each with a confidential voting account set up in their name.

Ranked ballot voting is the method of voting that was previously used in the president-elect referendum and election of assembly directors at the former Council. It gives a more complete picture of how each voter feels about all of the candidates and ensures each voter’s rankings still carry weight, even if their most preferred candidates don’t get elected.

Voters will be asked to numerically rank as many candidates as they wish on their ballot, where “1” is their most preferred candidate. Voters need to rank the candidates and submit their ballots.

After voting closes, “rounds” of calculations are conducted within BigPulse, the voting system. In each round, candidates are confirmed as elected if they receive more than a minimum quota^[*] of votes. Any votes received by a successful candidate more than the quota are redistributed to other candidates according to the voter’s next ranked choice. If no candidates exceed the quota of votes in a given round, the candidate with the least votes is removed from the running and their votes are redistributed to each voter’s next ranked candidate. This is repeated until all vacancies are filled. These calculations take place automatically according to BigPulse’s algorithms and the quota level ensures only as many candidates as there are vacancies will be elected.

^[*]Quota = total votes cast / (number of available seats plus one)

All constituency leaders and the president-elect and the new board directors will begin their terms at the close of the annual OMA AGM on Thursday, May 1, 2025.

Based on feedback and discussions with members, the president-elect, board and constituency group candidates are allowed to promote the elections and engage members through their own networks in line with specific board-approved guidelines.

An all-board director and president-elect candidate meeting will be scheduled following the close of nominations to learn about the process, allowed activities, key deadlines and address any questions.

The OMA will ensure all president-elect and board director candidates have a package available for members to review online, including statements, skills assessment, CVs and links to LinkedIn accounts. We are confident this will provide members with sufficient information to make an informed decision once the polls open on Jan. 13, 2025.

From the close of nominations until the end of the voting period, the OMA will not disseminate to members, by any means, communications that support individual candidates. Similarly, current OMA physician leaders will be unable to use OMA communications channels to send communications to members that support individual candidates.

Incumbent board directors and board director candidates are unable to post on OMA Connect during the voting period.  Non-board director candidates (i.e. constituency group executive) may still participate in OMA Connect however communications from candidates that appear on OMA Connect will be moderated and reviewed to ensure they are not in contraindication of the OMA’s election communication guidelines. Candidates can expect a delay in their posts appearing on OMA Connect as the content is reviewed.

Members who do not hold an OMA leadership position and/or are not running for a position in the election will on occasion use their own personal communications channels to endorse or support individual candidates. The OMA does not endorse or support these messages, while members are free to express their personal opinions as they see fit, we discourage these activities as they can undermine the democratic process.  

Constituency leaders have access to OMA-generated contact lists for their group. During the election period, there will be a hiatus on generating these lists. This is in response to member concerns about receiving unsolicited emails from candidates. During this period, any member communication should be facilitated through the OMA. Please reach out to your OMA staff lead for more details on the process.