The crisis that followed Saskatchewan's imposition of medicare in the early 1960s gave Canada's physicians one of the clearest signs that passivity and noninvolvement in the politics of health care was an invitation to disaster. The CMA's high profile was confirmed during the annual meeting in Victoria in August, when coverage of the meeting dominated the front pages of Canada's major newspapers and included a live broadcast on CBC Newsworld. The second half of this century has seen major changes in the way the association operates. Staff now total 450, including some 340 employees at MD Management Ltd., its rapidly expanding financial subsidiary. The headquarters remains at 1867 Alta Vista Dr. in Ottawa, adjacent to several of the city's major hospitals and other national health care organizations.
Some predictions are easy to make.
Women will be playing a much larger role in its operations, and MD Management is likely to remain a financial powerhouse. No other medical association in the world has come close to matching its success. The CMA's Publications Department has also witnessed staggering growth. In 1910 the CMA absorbed the Montreal Medical Journal , and published the first issue of CMAJ in 1911. In the last 10 years the CMA has become a publishing powerhouse, producing 14 different medical journals and newsletters and more than 8000 periodical pages per year.