The chair

All condo corporation meetings must be presided by a chairperson. Chairing the meetings is the duty of the president of the board. However, the president can delegate this position to another.

It is common for the president to have the property company's district manager or a corporate lawyer chair the owners' meetings.

Responsibilities
It is the duty of the chair to enforce the rules of order and must:

1.	insure that the meeting is duly constituted.
2.	admit all persons entitled to attend.
3.	preserve order.
4.	appoint scrutineers if requested & train them in their duties.
5.	rule on the validity of proxies.
6.	give all owners a reasonable and fair opportunity to speak on any issue.
7.	preside at the meeting in a proper manner.
8.	declare the results of the voting.
9.	adjourn the meeting if necessary.
10.	declare the meeting closed on the termination of the business.
11.	vouch for the correctness of the minutes by signing them.

Challenging the chair
Matters of procedures arising out of rules of order, such as allowing an owner to speak, the holding of an adjournment, the closing of the meeting may be appealed to the meeting.

The chairman vacates the chair while the vote is taken.

A decision of the chair dealing with proxies, ballots or voting results can only be challenged by an owner appealing to the courts.

However this is very expensive and the chair's ruling stands unless it is overturned by the court.

Disqualification
A chair may disqualify himself by improperly adjourning the meeting, vacating the chair or refusing to continue the meeting or to appoint scrutineers after being requested to do so.

This may happen at AGMs (or board meetings) when the chair realizes that he and his cronies are about to lose an important vote. The chair believes that if he walks out of the room, the meeting cannot continue. If there remains a quorum, that is not the case.

If the chair disqualifies himself, a temporary chair holds an election among the owners to elect a new chair. This new chair will preside for the remainder of the meeting. (Rules 81, 82)

If the chair does not act judicially, the court may intervene and correct the wrong by voting for a new chair and proceeding with the meeting.
(Rule 81)

Can the chair break a tie?
Not unless the by-laws allow for it. If the chair is an owner, he gets only one vote. If a vote results in a tie, the resolution is deemed to have been defeated.

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