A tough decision. I am desperately looking for some unbiased criteria on which to decide. One criteria I thought might be useful is to see if any region has under- or over-hosted the CO/CYCC relative to their share of the membership population. The results, unfortunately, do not point strongly in any direction. I'm posting the results here in case any other VM is curious if this could be a deciding factor. I'll have to look for other criteria
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WRONG: See correction below in this POST)
Result: In the 25 years prior to 2025, the West hosted 30.4% with 30.8% of members; Central hosted 65.2% with 63.6% members; and East hosted 4.4% with 5.6% of members. No region's hosting vs members differs by greater than 2% so there is no significant imbalance that needs correcting.
Method: I grouped provinces into 3 regions to avoid unfair fragmentation. I used the latest
CFC membership statistics from May, 2023 as well as an estimate of 1,100 FQE members (CFC & FQE members can play in each other's tournaments so I considered FQE part of the same chess playing community).
Raw data (with thanks to Bob Gillanders): 2000 - Edmonton, AB; 2001 - Sackville, NB; 2002 - Montreal, QC; 2003 - Kapuskasing, ON; 2004 - Kapuskasing, ON; 2005 - Edmonton, AB; 2006 - Kitchener, ON; 2007 - Ottawa, ON; 2008 - Montreal, QC; 2009 - Edmonton, AB; 2010 - Toronto, ON; 2011 - Toronto, ON; 2012 - Victoria, BC; 2013 - Ottawa, ON; 2014 - Montreal, QC; 2015 - Windsor, ON (CYCC Only); 2016 - Windsor, ON; 2017 - Sault Ste Marie, ON; 2018 - Quebec City, QC; 2019 - Regina, SK; 2020 - (none); 2021 - (none); 2022 - Hamilton, ON; 2023 - Calgary, AB; 2024 - Montreal, QC.