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Comments re Changing the Date of the CNSA AGM

I would like to present some information to support a survey that has been circulated within the past month regarding changing the AGM of the CNSA to be held every two years at the time of the Inter Provincial Tournaments, and also what has been referred in a response as Applicant Apathy for ISA Tournaments.

I would like to begin by reading just one portion of a response because some or possibly many of you will not have heard about this.

Comments from the writer are > Quote:

A good first step in affirmative action would be to have the AGM at IP tournaments so that members across Canada can become more involved.  It goes on to say > Thankfully, this is on the AGM agenda.

More involvement should result in a broader representation on the CNSA Executive who would be able to encourage applicants to apply from all across Canada. ( End of quote)

 

Each year since my first involvement with the CNSA which was possibly in early 2000 there has always been representation from across Canada on the CNSA executive board. Possibly not equal but none the less they were always involved. Quite often that involvement was the result of the CNSA Presidents pushing for representation from the most active Club within the Province. That involvement by the executive has never appeared to increase the number of applicants for an ISA Tournament unless it was in their favor.

In 2007 Stan McCormack writes.   Efforts to expand the structure of the CNSA beyond Ontario have not proven successful. No Provincial Organizationoutside of ONTARIO has shown any interest in becoming an integral part of the structure as envisioned by our Objectives and Constitution.

If there are advantages to an expanded more structured organization, they are not apparent to the Alberta Shuffleboard Org; to the Saskatchewan Shuffleboard Org; or to provincial organizations which may exist in Eastern Canada.

Because the present Board acknowledged this lack of interest, at our Meeting of June 21 2007 in Tillsonburg, we passed this motion:

Motion made by Pat Lane,

          “If a club or individual is not now a member of a Provincial organization; a club Membership fee be established at $50.00 per year and an individual Membership at $5.00 per year.                                                                                                                                   The Provincial fee of $150.00 to remain the same.                                                                 2^nd by Stan McCormack . Motion Carried                                                                             Max and Pat to continue looking at the CNSA expansion.

Glen and Sylvia Bromley joined; and I believe a small # from New Brunswick. (Diana sent a list to each of us.)           Stan goes on to say

WE who are now serving on the Canadian Board may believe that we are acting in the best interest of All Canadian Shufflers but it is abundantly clear that shufflers in AB (our most populated province shuffler wise, after ON) do not share that view.                                                                                                           That is the easy part ~~ what to do to change that view is more difficult!!            To amend the Const. as the foremost vehicle to achieve this end, carries important risks (as does not amending).        Will we be better off with our Directors located in AB; SA; NB & ON??                 A subsequent motion was made in later years by Henry Strong at an AGM in Coldwater, to reduce the membership fee even further to $25.00 per year per club, but again that has never been successful or increased membership and has only served to reduce our Provincial membership.                                                                                                                                New Brunswick now is just a club member and pay $25.00 to the CNSA.

The Only Province outside of Ontario that has ever had a Provincial organization was New Brunswick.

And after the I/P Tournament held there in 2013 and the members meeting that followed. The result is they are no longer Provincial Members but just Club members.

 

I am not sure where the idea is coming from (as an individual suggests in the response to the survey) that broader representation on the Executive Board of the CNSA will encourage more applicants from across Canada to apply.

How many positions do we have on the CNSA Board that is not filled by members from other Provinces?

I would like to point out an example of this “broader representation” regarding this year’s ISA Tournament to be held in Midland Ontario.

The process to host this ISA tournament began over 3 years ago, and when the application from CNSA was accepted by the ISA board of directors; the information and the dates they selected for us were immediately published on all web sites available to the CNSA. Everyone who follows shuffleboard should have realized the dates that were chosen at that time, and all the planning that goes into hosting this International Event in Canada on Aug 10 to 15 this year.

Earlier this year when the CNSA made the announcement on the web sites to call for applications for the Midland tournament, we had a very negative comment from a Western club saying that the CNSA should have been more careful in choosing their date for the International Tournament because it was interfering with their Western tournament.

 

Some of their players choose not to apply and wanted to stay at home and take part in that Western tournament.

That was their choice and we must respect that; but we still had 4 applicants from the West in spite of the comment and all 4 were accepted to play to acknowledge their participation in the CNSA.

Would it have been any different if it the dates were not conflicting? (who knows)

In St Pete’s last year there were no players from the West and none applied.

Just one other thing I might to add to this; is that unless the East or the West have formed full Provincial Organizations, then how does one ever expect an individual club should run the National Organization. “The CNSA”

A motion I referred to earlier was made here in this room about 3 years ago to reduce the membership fee once again in an attempt to increase Club and Provincial participation. The CNSA has handed out far more money to the various Clubs across Canada than has ever been returned in membership. And this has gone on for many years in an attempt to get them on board.                                                                                         My point here is an attempt to show you how the CNSA has tried to gain the support of other Provinces besides Ontario, but fail each and every year. .

No-one in this room understands the arm twisting that was done to get a measly $25.00 from some of the Clubs who took part in the I/P tournament held in New Brunswick last year. All to keep them in compliance with the CNSA constitution.

Some of you may recall the meeting that was held in New Brunswick during the Inter Provincial Tournament. There were motions made and recorded votes.

But who can tell me anything that transpired from that meeting.

“I can tell you it was nothing”

The committees that were set up and any tasks that were assigned were soon forgotten and never carried out, AND YES some of those committee members were from outside Ontario.

In my opinion it can only get worse if the meetings are stretched out to be held every two years as proposed and if more control is passed over to non committed individuals.

The writer who responded to the survey went on to say:

Recognizing that this is a significant issue within the CNSA, it is very difficult to offer more meaningful comment without knowing how many applicants we had, where they were from and what the selection criteria was to decide who is going to represent Canada.

I believe the time is probably right to establish a committee dedicated to look into all aspects of

the applicant apathy for the ISA tournaments.

Is there in fact “Apathy” for the ISA Tournaments or plain and simple not wanting or willing to travel abroad and spend all the money it takes to be a part of these tournaments and who determined it to be a significant issue within the CNSA.    

Is this the main reason for wanting the AGM switched to every two years?          Do you for one minute think the organizing of the Inter Provincial Tournaments was done by the host province??           I can tell you the answer is NO.              Do I think the I/P will continue to flourish without a lot of hard work and dedication.             In my humble opinion the answer is NO.                                                                   So then what happens to the AGM that you want to schedule every two years to be held at the I/P Tournament.                                                                               There is currently an AGM held each and every year, and every second year there is a General Members meeting held in Conjunction with the Interprovincial Tournament and this has been the case since the I/P began in 2008.                        What are you wanting to change.?

Each year an ISA selection committee is chosen by the President of the CNSA and follows the criteria which was established by the CNSA board some 6 or more years ago, and this is the basis selection process.

It is called

“Essential Qualifications”

1) Demonstrated Shuffleboard Skills: 75%

2) Personal Suitability:                         25%

In order to “Qualify”, an applicant must receive 60% in each Essential Qualification. That is: if Applicant XYZ rates less than 15 in the Personal Suitability Factor, he/she will not qualify. Similarly, any applicant who is not assessed in Shuffleboard Skills at 45 or higher will not qualify.

I have been chair of the selection committee for several years, and being the chairman only means being the person selected by the President to receive the applications / record the votes as provided by the selection committee and then send replies to all applicants either by postal mail or the internet or by phone. There were over 55 applicants and 24 places for them this year, so there were a lot of disappointed applicants. But also a lot of work sending out notices and replies.   The names of the selection committee have never been made public to the best of my knowledge, since they began the ISA player selection process. All for the simple reason that if an individual was not selected to play, their reason is always because he or she on the selection committee did not like me and that only creates sour grapes.

Gary Pipher, May 27, 2014.