Council elections will look different in 2024
CPSA is mandated to protect Albertans by guiding the medical profession. One way to fulfill our mandate is to continue strengthening our governance. That’s why in 2022, CPSA hired an external expert to conduct a comprehensive governance review to identify best practices for structures, policies and processes.
Based on the outcome of this review, Council approved a change to how regulated members of Council are selected. The updated process is intended to help ensure Council reflects the diverse backgrounds, competencies and lived experiences of regulated members in Alberta while maintaining its focus on CPSA’s mandate to protect the public.
The new process will be in place in 2024 for the election of 2025 CPSA councillors.
Your feedback is important! We want to hear from you about the updated elections process. Please review the details about what’s changing, and then provide your feedback by Oct. 14, 2023.
Background
The role of CPSA Council
CPSA was created by and is bound by the Health Professions Act (HPA), which requires us to carry out our regulatory activities and govern regulated members in a way that ensures the public interest is protected and served.
The HPA also gives CPSA the authority to establish a council that manages and conducts CPSA’s activities, and exercises the rights, powers and privileges CPSA has under the HPA.
Council composition
The HPA specifies that half of CPSA’s councillors are public members appointed by Alberta’s Lieutenant-Governor in Council. The other half is made up of regulated members who are elected by CPSA’s regulated members.
What’s changing
Current process
Currently, any regulated member with a valid practice permit that isn’t suspended may run in an election to be a regulated member of CPSA Council. The general election process involves these steps:
- CPSA issues a call for nominations to our regulated members each August.
- Interested regulated members submit nominations, and if eligibility requirements are met, they become candidates in a general election.
- If there are more eligible candidates than there are vacant seats on Council, candidates will run in an election held in the fall for regulated member councillor positions. All regulated members in good standing can vote in the election.
- At the final CPSA Council meeting of the year (December), Council uses the election results to appoint successful candidates to Council for 3-year terms beginning January 1 of the next year.
New process (beginning in 2024)
The new selection process for regulated member councillors will involve an assessment by Council of the current Council’s gaps in skills, competencies and perspectives, followed by a Council-appointed Nomination Committee reviewing skills, competencies and perspectives of regulated members interested in serving on Council, and nominating them as the best capable of filling the gaps. This would then be followed by an election. The process will involve these steps:
- CPSA will issue a call for nominations to our regulated members.
- Interested regulated members submit nominations and will be asked to provide information about their backgrounds (including lived experiences and diversity of perspectives), competencies and skills. The competencies being considered are:
- Core competencies: accountability, empathy, self-awareness/humility, cultural sensitivity
- Functional competencies: strategic and risk mindset, financial literacy, leadership oversight, corporate governance
- A neutral, third-party assessor will vet applicants using the competency and skillset. The assessor will then recommend a set of CPSA Council candidates to the Nominations Committee.
- The Nominations Committee will be made up of both regulated members and public members of Council, with an additional external committee member from outside the profession, who will bring an independent perspective to the nominations process. The committee will review the assessor’s recommendations and nominate regulated members to be candidates for CPSA Council.
- If there are more eligible candidates than there are vacant seats on Council, candidates will run in an election that follows the current elections process.
- At the final CPSA Council meeting of the year (December), Council will use the election results to appoint successful candidates to Council for 3-year terms beginning January 1 of the next year.
Provide your feedback
We want to hear from you! Please provide your feedback on this updated process by Oct. 14, 2023.
FAQs
Why is CPSA making this change now?
CPSA is committed to continuous improvement. The 2022 Governance Review showed Council there are different, updated and better methods of assembling a Council that can fulfill the mandate of protecting and serving Albertans. In seeking Council members with varied competencies, we can round out Council and decisions about regulation will be made after consideration by Council members with experience and a diversity of perspectives.
Why is CPSA using a competency framework to assess the regulated members interested in joining CPSA Council?
A competency framework helps to fill gaps in competency and seeks to build diversity of perspectives by assessing gaps in Council as a whole, and finding interested regulated members with competencies that fill those gaps.
It also provides choices that reflect the diverse backgrounds, competencies and lived experiences of regulated members in Alberta, who will help CPSA maintain our focus on protecting the public.
How will CPSA ensure the new process is fair and objective?
A neutral third-party assessor with expertise in assessing candidates for board positions will review interested candidates according to the Competencies set out by CPSA Council. Recommendations will be made to the Nominations Committee.
When there are more candidates than openings on a Council, an election of the candidates recommended by the Nominations Committee will be held.
Where can I find information about the position of CPSA Councillor?
Visit the Role of a CPSA Councillor webpage.