CFC AGM coming soon - who will be running for office?

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Originally Posted by Fred McKim

Way back when, we had the Tournament Director & Organizer Certification Program (TDOCP). We had an actual test, but again long time ago.

Again, volunteer work is needed, but a simple 20 question test could be designed along with some on the job experience under the eye of a CTD should get someone certified.

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We have to be more comprehensive then that. Objective questions are automatically marked by the software without any human intervention. I could easily make those questions. The software uses a questions bank that can contains many more questions then what is required. This is important in case a candidate has to redo the test. Nobody should take twice the same test but some question will always repeat.

Despite the software, a human eye should check each test for gross errors. An applicant in France has been failed despite an above 80% grade because he did not know that: the game is lost if the time limit has been exceeded, improperly supervised blitz and rapidplay use different rules, touching pieces outside of the chessboard does not force the player to promote to this piece and one more atrocity that I have forgotten. The software can give negative grade to some answers, this could help.

There should be 4 level with roughly the following content

Level 1 Basic rules and Basic administrative skills (tiebreak, price sharing, round robin pairings...)

Level 2 Swiss paring, bring your laptop and a FIDE endorsed pairing software.

Level 3 FIDE tournaments, FIDE rating, FIDE Norm

Level 4, experience in national tournaments

We should completely redo the handbook. The parts that come from FIDE should be transferred elsewhere. FIDE already has an arbiter's manual so we only need to do something for arbiters in French. I have translated many texts but the FQE is slow in publishing them.

We should use LibreOffice and a master document with a separate file for each chapter. That make it possible to assign each chapter to a suitable volunteer.

The Handbook has to be renumbered in the style of the FIDE Handbook. Introducing a new article or deleting an existing article should not have any renumbering effect outside of the current chapter.

The software is online at http://echecsmontreal.org/ArbiterCertification I am translating the sample questions and I will issue password for access.

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Originally Posted by Garland Best

Is there a link to this software?

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Check your private messages. I have sent you the link and your user name and password.

I did those question very quickly

The practice quiz has no restriction on the number of times it can be taken and it displays feedback about the answer, two features that will be disabled on the real test site.

Got it. Thanks. I'll play on the weekend.

Regarding redoing the CFC Handbook, I think renaming/reinventing the position of 'Past President' may be one obvious (if not the first) thing that should be done, now that the position is always to be filled by election rather than by the previous serving CFC president if he accepts. Don't know if the CFC would be required to pay the federal government for any paperwork that might be required of it, though.

I gave some slight thought to putting my name forward for nomination for the post, if only to have the experience of being on the CFC Board of Directors (and on its private message board), without having any specific duties (as far as I can tell). However, CFC Directors all have collective duties that are spelled out in the CFC Handbook, so besides only having a very slight interest, I feared being assigned a workload perhaps beyond any time or capabilities I might have, should I have been nominated and elected (made more problematic by my not currently being a voting member). At any rate, I am content to still field the odd email sent to me until the CFC formally fills the coordinator position I no longer formally fill for obtaining Canadian chess instructors' names to be listed on the CFC website.

[edit: perhaps the position of Past President might be replaced by Rating Auditor, which used to be included on the Board of Directors.]

There are two type of CFC non Executive officers : those who grant the office holder a Voting Membre at Large status and those who don't. As correctly stated by the President in the AGM, the CFC Executive can create new Offices without modifying the Act of Incorporation ($$$) or the Bylaws (free) but only type 2 offices. Type one office, those who grant a Voting Member status must be in the ByLaws or in the Act of Incorporation and do require the permission of the Voting Members in order to exist. In my opinion, deliberately failing to nominate persons to a type one office is wrong because it reduce the number of voting members. Those offices are: Rating Auditor, Director of Fundraising, Director of Publicity and Tournament Coordinator.

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Originally Posted by Pierre Dénommée

There are two type of CFC non Executive officers : those who grant the office holder a Voting Membre at Large status and those who don't. As correctly stated by the President in the AGM, the CFC Executive can create new Offices without modifying the Act of Incorporation ($$$) or the Bylaws (free) but only type 2 offices.

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I do not believe you are correct on that. There is little interest in creating new offices but that does not mean we couldn't if a suitable candidate presented themselves. Both the NFP act and our bylaws allow the board to create offices which further the purposes of the corporation.

The following two excerpts from our bylaws contradict your understanding of the situation. If I didn't have to write closing addresses I could show you in the NFP act where there are provisions consistent with this.

Membership Conditions
The board of directors of the Corporation may, by resolution, approve the admission of the members of the Corporation. Members may also be admitted in such other manner as may be prescribed by the board by resolution.

Appointment of Officers
The board may designate the offices of the Corporation, appoint officers on an annual or more frequent basis, specify their duties and, subject to the Act, delegate to such officers the power to manage the affairs of the Corporation. A director may be appointed to any office of the Corporation. An officer may, but need not be, a director unless these by-laws otherwise provide. Two or more offices may be held by the same person.

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Type one office, those who grant a Voting Member status must be in the ByLaws or in the Act of Incorporation and do require the permission of the Voting Members in order to exist. In my opinion, deliberately failing to nominate persons to a type one office is wrong because it reduce the number of voting members. Those offices are: Rating Auditor, Director of Fundraising, Director of Publicity and Tournament Coordinator.

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You are simply incorrect on this.

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Originally Posted by Vladimir Drkulec

You are simply incorrect on this.

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I'm incorrect but I am sad. Your citation is from the unpublished Article of Incorporation. I am sad because it means that the Directors could create 200 new voting members at will and take total control of the CFC. I am not suggesting that the current Executive is dishonest, just that this is a very dangerous loophole that could be abused by less scrupulous directors.

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Originally Posted by Pierre Dénommée

I'm incorrect but I am sad. Your citation is from the unpublished Article of Incorporation. I am sad because it means that the Directors could create 200 new voting members at will and take total control of the CFC. I am not suggesting that the current Executive is dishonest, just that this is a very dangerous loophole that could be abused by less scrupulous directors.

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We should only elect scrupulous directors. Unscrupulous directors can be removed by the voting members or the other directors.

Standard of Care

Directors and officers are required to exercise at least the level of care, diligence and skill that a reasonably prudent person would exercise in comparable circumstances. They are also required to act honestly, in good faith and in the best interests of the corporation, rather than in their own personal interest. This is known as an objective standard of care.Footnote 41 In other words, when a court must determine whether a director or officer has breached his or her duty to the corporation, it will test the person’s actions against those of a reasonably prudent person.

Appointing 200 voting members would no doubt violate that standard.

General Duties of the Board of Directors
The board of directors is accountable to the members. It is responsible for managing, and supervising the activities and affairs of the corporation. Generally, the directors are elected by the members, and the members are admitted by the board (in accordance with the articles and conditions set out in the by-laws).

The board may appoint one of its members to act as a managing director or a number of directors to act as a committee of directors. It can then delegate to the managing director or the committee any of the powers of the directors.Footnote 1 Directors are not, in that capacity, trustees for any property of the corporation, including property held in trust by the corporation.Footnote 2 See Responsibilities and Liabilities of Directors and Officers.


If it is a loophole it is a loophole in the law associated with the NFP act. This is how non profit corporations are to be governed in Canada.