Deanna William

The duty of every regulatory body and its council is to regulate in the public interest. How does a council achieve effective governance when its legislation presents barriers? There are a number of matters considered to be best practices in governance, including: the size of a council should not exceed 12 members; the number of professional and public members should be equal or the public members should be in the majority; the selection of the council should be based on competencies; and there should be a process to evaluate the effectiveness of the council and its members.

Despite a growing consensus on these best practices, provisions in the governing statute may mean that it is not possible in the short term to achieve a legislative change with respect to the size, composition and process for selection of council members. Our panel will discuss various steps that can be taken to improve effective governance of regulatory bodies without legislative change.