Turnover hindered outgoing board

The 1988-89 term for the Canadian Diamond Drillers Association’s (CDDA) directors, secretary- manager and president has been a challenging time, a combination of achievements, some failures and still many problems yet to be solved.

The board of eight directors included four new members. Due to circumstances beyond anyone’s control, this was the largest turnover in board members since the association’s by-laws were amended in 1986 to insure continuity and avoid such turnovers. Thankfully, Romeo Brouillette kept the position of past president an active one and contributed by attending three of four director’s meetings.

A replacement for the past safety chairman, Henry Skowronski, and a reporting method for the safety committees to the board was a problem that I think the next board will solve.

My involvement with the Save Flow-Through committee in early 1988 taught me how important it is to an association like ours to speak for a greater number of companies in the industry. Representation before governments, whether it has to do with compensation, labor laws, or finance are all enhanced when the majority of an industry speaks as one. To strengthen our voice, the secretary-manager and I made an effort to call on many of the members outside of central Canada that haven’t had much exposure to the CDDA, as well as continuing to introduce the association to prospective members. The ongoing results of these efforts are that since 1985 active membership has increased from 27 to 50, associate membership from 10 to 38, and mining membership from three to six in 1989.

To the future, I would like to put forward some questions and observations that the membership and the new Board should consider and act on before we are forced to react:

1. What will the role of the CDDA be in mandatory training?

2. Will the CDDA, and its membership finally support professional lobbying efforts directed towards bringing about changes in government policies, such as the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada’s lobby for changes in tax regulations affecting flow-through shares and the effort initiated by N. Morissette Canada Inc., towards the Ontario Workers Compensation Board, and the method for calculating assessable earnings?

3. What are the future staffing requirements of the CDDA office considering the job presently being done, potential increases in the work load and the retirement plans for the present secretary-manager?

4. Is the present structure of the CDDA’s board of directors adequate or excessive in its number or areas of responsibility?

Finally I would like to thank the membership and the board of directors for giving me the opportunity to serve as president of an association as prestigious as the Canadian Diamond Drilling Association.

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