We welcome our President Michael von Keitz
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We welcome our President Michael von Keitz
Greetings and a Happy New Year to the governorship, as well as the membership!
After spending my Christmas Eve travelling through the night on a circuitous route from Owen
Sound to Kirkland Lake via London, I arrived home early in the morning on Christmas Day. Having
spent a majority of the last 6 years in Guelph, I'm no longer acclimitized to this area, but I
do recall the days of school being cancelled when the mercury froze and temperatures fell below
-50. At some point, a few days ago, the temperature was finding its way to -40, just begging the
mercury to freeze, but it's now a balmy -2. I can't say these temperature swings are therapeutic,
nor do they bode well for the return trip, but I've enjoyed the visit nonetheless.
As Fred indicates in his report, we're looking good financially, while we are also confident that
the long-standing issues with the website can now be said to have been put to bed. A number of
members have approached us regarding the possibility of online delivery for the newsletter, which
Fred and I have been exploring, though there are no imminent plans to switch from our current
model. That said, we do have some outstanding issues with outdated contact information for
some of our members, but these we are aware of and are making efforts to correct. On the topic
of the website, you'll also notice that links to our YouTube and LinkedIn accounts have now been
added. You are all invited to subscribe to both.
Turning to day-to-day business, there always seems to be something going on, but of particular
importance is a reminder on behalf of Gerry in the office. Some of us have been tardy in our
submission of rating fees and/or membership fees - in some cases, even worse, requesting that he
deal with it himself - and this puts him to unnecessary additional work, as he expends efforts
on closing the file. I'd ask each of you to be mindful of this and to make efforts to submit
payments on time, without delegating to him. As to the long-term, we plan to clear out the
storage unit in Ottawa, look into securing an auditor for the Federation and to soon wrap up
this RCAAA application. A discussion we've been having, somewhat related to the last of these,
is our need to transition into the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act. Unrelatedly, at the
request of one of our members, Les will soon be releasing a privacy policy. The Olympic
Selection Committee is also now in place and will commence work not long after this meeting
concludes.
In relation to this meeting itself, a few notes:
1. FIDE Instructor Titles/Seminars
Members have been asking for the faciliation of these seminars. Thoughts? Any organizers out
there willing to consider tacking such a seminar onto their event(s)?
2. Affiliate Program
After the last quarterly meeting, Chris Mallon and Fred proved unable to bring forward their
proposed motion in time for this meeting. Does anyone feel the topic merits further discussion
prior to the Spring Quarterly Meeting?
3. Class Certificate Program
Chris Mallon has some bookkeeping motions on the floor, but, as I mentioned in GL#2, this program
is currently a money-losing venture. Any thoughts?
4. Challenge
As mentioned in a previous e-mail, Chris Field has appealed from the decision of the Chair. In
essence, the question of whether an amending clause to Rekhson/Ong, worded something like
"Further, this change will apply retroactive to December 1, 2011" should be permitted. I ruled
that, as an ex post facto motion, this was out of order. Specifically, as I mentioned to the
individuals involved, "the best analogy I can find from a legal perspective is ex post facto law
- prohibited under section 11(g) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in relation to criminal
law (can be overridden under Section 33, though never attempted); not prohibited, but seldom
used, under civil law." Chris has challenged my interpretation and now the decision falls to you,
the governors, once Lyle opens the poll.
Question:
Pursuant to Chris Field's appeal from the decision of the Chair, should an ex post facto clause
"Further, this change will apply retroactive to December 1, 2011" be permitted to be presented
as an amendment to Rekhson/Ong?
YES, and I support the amendment. Please add it!
YES, but I do not support the amendment. Do not add it!
NO
I'll close the report there and happily reply to any follow up.
Happy New Year,
Michael von Keitz
President, Chess Federation of Canada
Please allow this clause to be presented as an amendment to this motion.
Here is the rationale:
Until 2009, and spring of 2010, I ran 2 junior-only, quick-play (30 minutes / player or slightly slower) tournaments each year. They were always regular-rated, whether or not there was a clause in the rules preventing this.
In 2010-2011, I was sick and did not run any of these tournaments. Although I was at the annual meeting in 2011, and heard Paul Leblanc state that as Rating Auditor he would enforce the rule regarding no regular-rating of quick-play events, I simply did not expect that he meant to include the CYCC Qualifier events.
I ran a CYCC Qualifier at G30 control on Dec 3 2011. I did not advertise it as an "active" event. The players and parents all expected it to be regular-rated. Instead, Mr Leblanc instructed Gerry to active rate it.
The result is that a lot of players (we had over 60) and their parents are not happy. Also, the active ratings produced are extremely inaccurate. IN the one section, they are based on 1 player with a pre-tournament active rating out of 29 players, whereas 13 of these players had pre-tournament regular ratings. In the other section, the active ratings are based on 5 out of 33 players with pre-tournament active ratings, whereas 16 of these players had pre-tournament regular ratings.
The pairings were of course based on the regular ratings. Also, all of the pre-tournament active ratings were extremely out-of-date.
I'll deal with the reasons for junior-only events to be regular-rated in discussing the motion itself. These are the reasons why - based on there being a need to have junior-only events regular-rated - this change needs to be retroactive to Dec 1, 2011, so that the CYCC Qualifier on Dec 3 2011 may be re-submitted and regular-rated, to correct these errors.
Chris Field.