Stuart,

This idea of Victor Itkine was discussed by the Youth Committe, and defeated.

I still see no reason to exclude our best players from participation at provincial level.
They have no problem to qualify, but we should encourage them to participate.

Beside, there is an issue of fairness.
With voluntary "rating gifts" we can't ensure the integrity of CFC rating system across the country.
Jason Cao is just one example.
But in general, young players in BC, where majority of "adult" tournaments are non-rated, or in SK, where such tournaments almost non-existent, are severely underrated.
In such situation we can't compare ratings from different provinces.

For example, in the last CYCC were 4 champions from BC (plus Jason Cao, who tied for first), and all of them were rated lower, than their Ontario rivals.