Structure of Canadian Committee

Number of members

The Canadian Committee (CC) is composed of six members, with at least one member residing in each of the following three regions:

• Ontario
• Western Canada/Territories (all areas west of the Ontario-Manitoba border plus all three Canadian territories)
• Quebec and the Atlantic Provinces (all areas east of the Ontario-Quebec border)

Additionally, no more than three members will be allowed from any one of the above regions.

Committee member selection process

• New members will each serve a three-year term.
• Two members will be elected each year.
• A lottery was held in Dayton, OH on August 1, 2009 to determine when the terms of the then-appointed Canadian Committee members would end. (Note: John Aitken and Tony Leah each volunteered to have his term end on December 31, 2009.) The Dayton lottery randomly determined that the terms of both John Robertson and Jeff Parsons would end on December 31, 2010 and the terms of David Boys and Siri Tillekeratne would both end on December 31, 2011.
• Elections will take place every November for terms beginning the following January 1.
• Candidacies and nominations for prospective CC members for each year's election will run from September 1 to October 15.
• Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada who are NASPA members in good standing will be allowed to participate in the electoral process. Note: On August 30, 2013 the CC determined that expatriate Canadians were ineligible to run in a CC election as it was deemed they had an unfair advantage because they are not subject to the same regional requirements as other candidates. Expatriate Canadians may still vote in all CC elections, however.

Committee member replacement process

If a CC member is unable to complete his/her term due to resignation, death, incapacitation, or removal, the remainder of his/her term will be filled by a replacement selected in this order until the position is filled:

• (1) The person with the most votes who lost the most recent CC election (subject to the CC's regional provisions).
• (2) The loser of the next most recent election (subject to the CC's regional provisions).
• (3) The most recent previous CC member based on when he/she last served (subject to the CC's regional provisions).
• (4) A person selected collectively by the remaining CC members.

Past CC Election Summaries

2009: Since Tony Leah (Ontario) and Randall Thomas (Western Canada) were the only two candidates, they both won by acclamation. Tony was an incumbent. Randall, in effect, replaced John Aitken (Western Canada) who chose not to run.

2010: John Robertson (Ontario) and Jeff Parsons (Quebec/Atlantic) were reelected. They both finished ahead of Carl Madden (Ontario) in the voting.

2011: David Boys (Quebec/Atlantic) chose not to run for reelection. Three candidates chose to run: incumbent Siri Tillekeratne (Western Canada) and two Ontarians (Lisa Kessler and Carl Madden). Since the CC's rules prevent any region from having more than three members, and there were already two sitting CC members from Ontario, Siri was automatically reelected by acclamation. Thus the election became a two-person race for the one vacant CC seat. Lisa finished ahead of Carl in the voting.

2012: Both Tony Leah (Ontario) and Randall Thomas (Western Canada) chose not to run for reelection. Four candidates ran for the two vacancies: Sary Karanofsky (Quebec/Atlantic), Mad Palazzo (Ontario), Juraj Pivovarov (Western Canada), and Andy Saunders (Ontario). Mad got the most votes, followed by Andy, Sary, and Juraj in that order. Since there were already two Ontario members on the CC, Mad's election gave Ontario its maximum three members. Therefore Andy could not be elected despite accruing the second-highest vote total. Third-place finisher Sary was thus elected.

2013: Jeff Parsons (Quebec/Atlantic) chose not to run for reelection. Incumbent John Robertson (Ontario) ran for reelection. Bernard Gotlieb (Quebec/Atlantic) also ran. As the only two candidates, John and Bernard were elected by acclamation.

2014: Incumbents Siri Tillekeratne (Western Canada/Territories) and Lisa Kessler (Ontario) both chose to run for re-election. Andy Saunders (Ontario) also chose to run. Since Western Canada/Territories requires at least one member, and Siri was the only member from that region, he won by acclamation. This left the election as a two-person race between Lisa and Andy. Andy won the election and replaced Lisa on the CC as of January 1, 2015.

2015: Incumbent Mad Palazzo chose to run as did Joshua Sokol. They were the only two candidates who registered for the election process, thus Mad and Joshua won the election by acclamation. Joshua, in effect, replaced Sary Karanofsky who chose not to run for re-election.

2016: Incumbents Bernard Gotlieb and John Robertson both chose to run for re-election and were unopposed. Thus both Bernard and John won by acclamation.

2017: Incumbent Siri Tillekeratne (Western Canada/Territories) chose to run as did Jason Broersma (Ontario). They were the only two candidates who registered for the election process; thus Siri and Jason both won by acclamation. Jason, in effect, replaced Andy Saunders, who chose not to run.

2018: Joshua Sokol (Quebec and the Atlantic Provinces) and Colin Viebrock (Western Canada/Territories) won by acclamation. A third nominee withdrew from consideration so there was no election.

2019: Incumbent Andy Saunders and new member Jillian Bathgate won by acclamation.

2020: Incumbent Siri Tillekeratne won by acclamation.

2021: Incumbent Joshua Sokol won by acclamation.

Feedback

We invite your input to determine the best possible way of making the CC a responsible and accountable body representing the interests of all Canadian Scrabble players. We strongly encourage all Canadian NASPA members to participate in the annual CC electoral process. Discussion can be posted to the Canadian Committee yahoo groups site by emailing naspa-canada@yahoogroups.com.