03) President's Report

[Christopher Mallon]

President's Report to be posted below

[Rob Clark]

Greetings,

This year in the OCA was a relatively quiet one due to a number of reasons. Michael von Keitz was originally elected as OCA president, however, was elected as CFC president and was required to step aside. Thus, as a multiple year member of the exec in good standing, I stepped forward to fill the vacancy. Things were a tad difficult at the beginning since I was not present at the AGM due to family matters and geographical distances; and was compounded by the fact that there was no recorded budget or minutes from the outgoing (and no incoming) secretary. However, I was able to reconstruct the budget from various reports from people at the meeting and I later reconstructed minutes from reports based on people present.

The issue that I see most pressing during my term is the status of our tax returns. We are a smaller non-profit and as such are not required to pay taxes, however, we are still required to file them. Our organization also should be filing since we have had a questionable financial period in the past (which thankfully is in the past) and transparency as well as financial scrutiny is something the OCA`s reputation can certainly benefit from. This is also something that conceivably could bankrupt the OCA in the future if we are ever audited as the ensuing scramble to get our taxes filed will deplete our small operating budget (which should be devoted solely to chess). Hal Bond was tasked with the filing but the records from the Thorvardson years are difficult to work with. Seeing as Hal was the Vice President during the Thorvardson years, he made the decision to step away from their filing as he may be in a conflict of interest. Bob Gillanders then agreed to have a look at the numbers and will hopefully give an update during the AGM. This is a recent development and as such he has not had a lot of time to look over things. I have been reluctant during the year to get involved with anything financially as this will complicate the returns and I expected the returns to be filed by the time of the AGM which would have meant that early next year we could have undertaken financial ventures. However, tentative groundwork has been laid for future initiatives including a youth team similar to one being run by the FQE. The CMA have stated that they may be willing to financially support such a venture and there are other promising things that may be in the works. However, I feel that the matter of having never filed tax returns since our incorporation is one which needs to be addressed sooner rather than later as each year adds another year which must be accounted for as well as filed.

Ontario Volunteer Service Awards were awarded to several worthy candidates; league interest was high in these awards. Diamond Jubilee medals were also mentioned as a possibility but there seemed to be little interest from the leagues in terms of suggesting candidates. The OVSAs seem to be a great way to recognize our hardworking volunteers and I hope it will be continued in the future.

The AGM will also be online this year and I anticipate far greater attendance than previous years. Geographic distance has always been an issue with attendance and I believe conversion to an online AGM will help make the OCA governance more accessible and make it easier for all chess players and enthusiasts to get involved. The multiple day format also avoids conflicts and allows for further participation.

There was also a fair amount of discussion regarding the OCA`s constitution not reflecting the CFC in terms of governor allocation. This is something I expect will be addressed during the AGM. Additionally the new laws surrounding non-profits are on the horizon and will have to be addressed in the upcoming term.

An Ontario Team Championship is now also in the works with a final match between the leagues to be determined after SWOCL determines a league team champion. The SWOCL team championship is now underway. The introduction of internet play will make such league competitions far easier in the future as well.

In terms of finances, there were some issues with banking errors and stale dated cheques from last year however this was fairly easily resolved. The OCA supported the Ontario Open, Ontario High School Chess Championship and Ontario Youth Chess Championship. There has been some questions raised about the rental fee for boards and clocks as it seems to be inconsistently enforced (even with the same people from one year to another).

On a personal note, the Ontario Open was in my hometown of Thunder Bay this year which I was extremely pleased about. This marks the first tournament in Thunder Bay since their falling out with the CFC a few years back. While the turnout was meagre by comparison to previous Ontario Opens, the competition was fierce and featured some impressive upsets. An interesting thing to note is that the organizers decided to use part of the prize fund to subsidize entry fees of anyone who was not a current CFC member. This means that there is again CFC members in Thunder Bay and that there will be CFC rated events in the near future.

All in all, this year has been slower than I would have liked for a number of reasons but has still seen growth and has laid the foundation for a more involved Ontario chess community. This is in addition to starting the process of dealing with a few issues that need to be sorted out before we can move forward as an organization.

All the best,

Robert Clark
OCA President

[Christopher Mallon]

Great! Hopefully that will have kickstarted Thunder Bay which could be a big growth area for us.

[Brett Campbell]

From reading your report, Rob, it looks like you accomplished a lot and did a great job filling in for Michael!