Thank you to the members who were able to attend the Town Hall on November 13th, who exercised their right to vote, and who attended the Special Members’ Meeting called by the Board for December 11th.
The membership voted to approve the By-law changes: 111 in favour, 41 against, and 13 abstentions.
With this vote, next steps are as follows:
The CPA’s CEO and Governance Manager will work with the CPA’s legal counsel to create and file an updated version of the By-laws with all the red line changes accepted. That version will then be posted to the CPA’s website.
Any relevant By-law changes will be incorporated into the CPA’s Governance Policies and the Association’s Operating Regulations to ensure full alignment with all the CPA’s policies and procedures.
The Section Operating Regulations will be updated to reflect the By-law changes in Section 8. Just as the CPA’s Governance Policies and Association Operating Regulations guide the CPA’s Board and staff with respect to policies and procedures, the Section Operating Regulations guide the Section’s operational procedures and policies; as such, it is critical to get the Section Operating Regulations updated as quickly as possible to reflect the updated By-laws. A deadline of end of January has been set for this work to be completed. The CEO has invited interested Section Chairs to form a small time-limited working group to work with her, the CPA’s Sections Administrator and the Board Director representing Sections to update the Section Operating Regulations to make the necessary changes to reflect the By-law changes and address the various areas of question/concern that were raised by the Sections as pertains to the following:
- Section powers and regulation of section affairs as relates to position statements, advocacy, and external representation
- Management of disagreements between the CPA and Sections regarding requested advocacy and/or representation
- Procedural information for violations of the CPA’s Code of Conduct
Should you have any questions about any of the above as relates to the By-laws, please email us at governance@cpa.ca. Once again, we thank those who took the time to exercise their vote and participate in a process that ensured best practice in governance for the Association.
Sincerely,
Steve Smith, Ph.D.
CPA President, 2025-26
On behalf of the CPA’s Board of Directors