Condo corporations able to hold virtual meetings and conduct advance and real-time e-voting without a bylaw may possibly see this privilege cease after September 30. There is no word yet from the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services as to whether this deadline will be extended or more permanent changes implemented under the Condo Act to completely eliminate the bylaw requirement.
Angel-Marie Reiner, president of Onyx Condo Management, is one of many industry members who is concerned about the possible consequences that could occur as of October 1.
“The thought of the potential of having to go back to in-person meetings and not being able to vote in advance digitally has our industry taking several steps back,” she says.
“Attendance since the launch of virtual meetings for AGMs has increased dramatically. Before virtual meetings, it could be challenging to get a quorum; now, technology has made not being able to achieve a quorum a thing of the past.”
In a recent blog post addressing the issue, condo lawyer Denise Lash remains hopeful while also voicing concerns. “It is hard to believe that after more than two years the Ministry would bring back this requirement to put a by-law in place when virtual meetings and e-voting have had a positive impact on condo governance and accessibility for owners in attending and voting at owners meetings – but let’s be prepared,” she said.
Condo corporations that have a virtual meeting and electronic bylaw can continue holding meetings virtually and allow electronic/telephonic voting. But time is of the essence for those without a bylaw as steps include holding a meeting before September 30th, 2022, in order to vote on the bylaw.
Collecting owners agreements to receive notices electronically could also see a return, said Lash. “Unless this date is extended, all notices that are sent to owners for meetings can only be sent to owners if they have agreed/consented to receive notices by email. This cannot be changed by a by-law.”
“Hopefully we will see a permanent change to this requirement,” she said. “We have heard from many managers that the thought of having to produce those 30+ page AGM packages to send to owners is something that they thought they would never have to deal with again.”
Among the corporations that Onyx manages, owners have so far praised the efficiency of meeting virtually and abolishing paper proxies, Reiner conveys. Attending AGMs have also become “enjoyable,” according to owner feedback.
“Creating a bylaw to have this excellent service continue is disappointing,” she says. “AGM’s most often are held in the evenings; virtual meetings help to create work-life balance for property managers and auditors. It means they are already home after a long day and an evening meeting.
“This is improving the industry; these options have and will keep the industry thriving with talent who want to work in property management. Property management is a busy profession; why add an extra step to something that has worked well for over two years?”
This is one very clear answer to the question “how do we improve an industry with technology?” The very fact that electronic voting and “virtual” AGMs have reduced the workload for condo managers greatly (though not enough to fully restore a proper balance to most of our lives) while increasing owner participation significantly should be enough for the government to sit up and take notice by making the changing permanent. It shows that consumer protection is being served by these “innovations”, which I believe was the impetus for the CMSA 2015 and subsequent regulation implementations.
This missing piece may be the importance of ensuring those owners who are not up to speed with technology are not left out of the process of governance. As simple as email and Zoom may seem to most of us, there are those few owners who cannot or choose to not partake in areas of technological progress. Hybrid options should always exist. It’s just a matter of clearly communicating with and providing an option for those owners to participate.
Thank you to both Angel Marie Reiner and Denise Lash for their commentaries on this. Perhaps we need to send an open letter to the appropriate government official(s) on the subject, clearly outlining the vital points.
It doesn’t matter whether virtual or in person, bylaw or no bylaw when you live in a Condo corp that doesn’t hold AGMs on time, sends out error filled budgets, doesn’t do any audits or RFS when scheduled, and ignores owner requests for information and repairs.
I am all for virtual meetings. However, this poses an equity issue for condo owners without access or having difficulty with technology. Also, this tips the balance of power and control to the board, who can control content, questions and responses. How to we ensure that service channels are open to accommodate everyone, or what type of responsibility does the board have to ensure residents are supported to attend meeting and vote?
Virtual meetings are terrible if your Board is unscrupulous. It allows the Board to disqualify votes, use the corporation lawyer to silence owners who are considered troublesome and there is no oversight by a trusted scrutineer.
It happened in our just AGM.