Electoral process

Regions and representativeness

To ensure adequate regional representation on the Collège's Board of Directors, the Quebec territory is divided into five electoral regions. You can see the region groupings and the number of directorships on the electoral regions map.

Consult the electoral regions map (in French only).

Election procedure

The directors are elected by a general vote of the members while the president is elected by a vote of the directors.

The Collège is administered by a Board composed of a president and fifteen other directors. Eleven of the directors are elected by a general vote of the members of the order by secret ballot and four other directors representing the public are appointed by the Office des professions du Québec.

The members of the Board elect the president of the Collège from among the directors elected by secret ballot. The election to the office of president takes place every four years at the first meeting of the Board following the first Wednesday in October. The current president was elected on October 20, 2022.

Term of office

Directors:

• Directors are elected or appointed for a term of four years.
• However, elections are not held simultaneously in all regions.
• In fact, elections to the office of director are held every two years on the first Wednesday of October to replace elected directors whose terms are expiring.
• There is no limit to the number of terms that a director may hold.

Representatives of the public:

• The selection of the directors appointed by the Office des professions takes place at the same time as the elections of elected directors.

The president:

• The president of the Collège is also elected for a term of four years, but may not serve for more than two consecutive terms.
• If the president is elected for a term exceeding their term of office as director, they cease to serve their term as president at the end of their term as director, unless they are re-elected as director.
• In this case, they remain in office as president for the unexpired portion of their term of office.

The secretary’s role

• The secretary of the Collège acts as election secretary. They are responsible for the application of the Règlement sur l’organisation du Collège des médecins du Québec et les élections à son Conseil d’administration [Regulation respecting the organization of the Collège des médecins du Québec and elections to its board of directors; in French only] and, in particular, supervises the vote.
• The secretary is assisted in their work by the Elections Advisory Committee. They report to the Committee on their activities and on any decision they make during an election.
• The secretary performs, in particular, duties relating to the eligibility of candidates, the information distributed to members, the list of members entitled to vote, the supervision of the vote and the validity of votes. These duties are described in more detail in the Electoral policy (in French only).

The Advisory Committee’s role

The Elections Advisory Committee’s mandate is to answer the election secretary's questions about the electoral process.

The Committee is composed of three members appointed by the Board of Directors.

In order to ensure the independence of the members of the Advisory Committee and to guarantee the integrity of the electoral process, the Board of Directors has defined the following criteria for their appointment:

1. A person whose name appears on the list from which the directors are appointed by the Office des professions, in accordance with the Professional Code, who is not a member of the Board.
2. A former director of the Collège or another person who is not a member of the Board and whose name appears on the list from which the directors are appointed by the Office des professions, in accordance with the Professional Code.
3. A member of the Order who has extensive experience, expertise, awareness or interest in ethics and who is not a director of the Order or an employee of the Order or a person related to the Order.

The Committee reports on its activities to the Board at the first meeting following the election. It may also make recommendations to the Board.

The Committee's opinions and the secretary's decisions concerning a candidate's conduct are public and posted in the elections section of the Collège's website.