MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
Dear Colleagues:
A
David Rouselle,
College President
A handful of
medical colleges
across Canada have
elected a public
member of Council
to lead their College
common misconcep-
tion: the College is an
“old boys club”, run by
doctors for doctors. In
fact, 40% of the members of the
governing Council of the College
are non-physician, public members
appointed by the government. These
members are often respected busi-
ness and community leaders, and/or
members of other disciplines such as
the legal and accounting professions.
Over the last several years, a
handful of medical colleges across
Canada have elected a public mem-
ber of Council to lead their College
as President. In fact, Alberta and
Newfoundland/Labrador have twice
gone that route. And in Ontario
health-care regulation, the College
of Nurses recently elected a public
member as its President.
This College has been fortunate to
have had many talented and dedi-
cated public members of Council
over the years. Certainly in my time
at Council, I can think of a number
of public members who would have
made strong Presidents. And yet, it
has never happened. It’s not because
clinical knowledge is a prerequisite
for the job – it is not. It is simply
because a path had never been
cleared to allow a public member
entry to the position.
Well, it’s time to clear a path.
At its last meeting, Council asked
the Governance Committee to
develop options that would facilitate
the election of a public President.
The sentiment around the Council
table was that the goal of any gov-
ernance change should be to ensure
alignment with our public member
interest mandate. In this case, the
goal would be that candidates for
President are selected based on their
suitability for the role, not whether
they are public members or physi-
cians. It would not mean that the
President would always be a public
member, but that they could be.
I was pleased with Council’s
discussion. A public member with
strong leadership skills is just as
capable of carrying the torch for
public protection as a similarly gifted
person with a medical degree.
The issue of regulatory gover-
nance – and specifically the com-
position of councils and commit-
tees – has received much attention
Issue 2, 2017 Dialogue
5