Here we go again. You know, after all the body blows the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) has taken over the years, you’d think they’d learn the most basic of lessons. A membership driven organization should not cheese off its members. Do that and bad things will happen. Yet somehow, they never seem to learn this basic principle.
First, you don’t insult your members, you support them. So when someone (anyone) writes an article that criticizes all your members, don’t publish it. Otherwise, you are basically telling people that you know better than them, and that they should do as you tell them. I actually had warned them when they allowed a miserable, hateful missive to be published that they should pull it and apologize to all their members or family physicians would lose confidence in the CFPC. Alas…….
Second, if you are truly concerned that trainees are not getting an adequate experience, you should first focus on improving the current training program instead of automatically extending it by one year. Do residents really need to go for all these “clinical day backs”, “forum days”, “research days” and “retreats”. Shouldn’t they be laying hands on a patient instead? Should they not be taught real life skills like how to run the business side of things? And so on.
And if you really, really believe that the training period needs to be extended, then communicate properly why it’s not possible to improve the program based the current times. Show every thing you’ve done to fix it. Then clearly explain how an extra year would help – don’t just force it down everyone’s throat.
Thirdly, if you need to raise dues, don’t just ram it down the members throats in a ridiculously convoluted manner. Otherwise people will smell a rat and will fight against it. Instead, clearly communicate why it’s necessary and how the membership will benefit from the increase. The fees we pay should be viewed as a value proposition. Yes we paid $X, but in return we get Y services. Prove Y services are worth it.
Alas, despite promising a “humbler and more transparent organization” just two years ago, the CFPC is at it again. They are once again attempting to get around the membership by baking in annual fee increases that do NOT require member approval.
Buried deep in the meeting package for the CFPC annual meeting, is a motion to amend section 10.5 of the bylaws (copied verbatim):
“THAT section 10.5 of the CFPC Bylaws be amended as follows: The Members shall pay the annual College membership fees applicable to their class of membership, as determined annually by a majority vote of the Board. If the Board intends to increase the existing membership fees for any class or category of membership by an amount that exceeds the annual Canada Consumer Price Index (as published by Statistics Canada for July of each year), and rounded up to the nearest dollar, such proposed increase must be ratified by an Ordinary Resolution of the Members at the Annual Meeting before it becomes effective. Any increase to the annual membership fees becomes effective on July 1 of the ensuing calendar year. Such membership fees shall subsequently be ratified by a simple majority of the membership eligible to vote at the Annual Meeting. Membership fees shall be directed towards the cost of College programs and activities, as determined by the Board.“
In essence, what the CFPC is asking, is to set in place a process where dues go up annually up to the CPI, without any rationale provided to the members. They are guaranteeing themselves annual increases in revenue. To quote a colleague: “It’s really an unprecedented consolidation of power, and removes member centredness from a member centric organization”.
Look, I actually get the need to raise fees (honest!). Contrary to what Ladouceur wrote in his offensive editorial, I actually run my office as a business. I know inflation has taken its toll. My expenses are up. Despite my best efforts at efficiencies, my overhead is higher than it was 5 years ago. I suspect this is the same for the CFPC.
But the solution is not to give the CFPC carte blanche to keep increasing dues. The CFPC needs to show real leadership and say to the members:
“This is what we’ve done with the money. This is the value we bring. These are the efficiencies we’ve implemented. But despite that, this is the increase we need to bring you the organization you deserve.”
And next year, it needs to do the same thing. And the year after. And so on. And that’s how you build an organization worthy of the trust of your members.
In the meantime, if you want to make your voice heard and vote against this nonsense, here’s how to stop it (shamelessly mostly copied from a colleague who gave me permission to do so):
- Live, at the Annual Meeting of Members (AMM). Wed Oct 29 from 7-8:30 PM. Details on how to join this were emailed to you by CFPC.
- If you cannot attend the AMM, assign a proxy by going here: https://reg.lumiengage.com/cfpc-2025. You will need your unique control number. See the email called “The CFPC’s AMM participation details“.
The bylaw in question is called “Bylaw Amendment Regarding Membership Fees”. Vote “Reject“.
By assigning a proxy, that person you assign does not know your vote, and must submit your ballot as is, so they can’t change your vote. You can assign your proxy to one of the CFPC leadership, or a specific individual with a backup option of CFPC leadership, or a specific individual alone. The danger of the last option is that if that person does not or cannot attend the AMM, your vote does not count. I personally would recommend you assign the CFPC President (who is pretty well guaranteed to attend the meeting) as your proxy.
Let’s stop the CFPC from getting out of hand on this issue. Then we can work on trying to figure out how come the organization never seems to learn its lessons.
justanoldcountrydoctor 