Update: Official word from Metcalfe Street is that the numbers contained in this story apply only to the Special General Meeting that will kick off the CSA festivities the first weekend in May. There, new by-laws will be passed -- along with a new voting system for the Annual General Meeting and the presidential elections.
I find this so frustrating I could just about freaking scream. I will have PLENTY to say about this entire process once the meetings are all in the books. If you see a crazed journalist standing alone outside of Metcalfe Street hollering something about transparency and the 21st century, make sure to honk and say "hi."
For now, though, the following story is still a useful exercise. Please bear in mind as you read it, though, that the official vote tinkering ain't done with yet.
This wasn’t easy to get.
(Thank you, unofficial back channels.)
We finally have the revised voting totals for the Canadian Soccer Association’s annual general meeting to be held the first weekend of May.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
The provincial weighting is adjusted every year, and is based on the total amount of membership fees paid – which, in turn, is a perfect reflection of player registration fees collected. No province is allowed to hold more than 25% of the vote.
Therefore:
Ontario – 234
Quebec – 234
British Columbia – 167
Alberta – 113
Nova Scotia – 43
Saskatchewan – 33
Manitoba – 28
New Brunswick – 26
Newfoundland and Labrador – 23
Prince Edward Island – 13
Yukon Territory – 8
Northwest Territories – 7
Professional Soccer Clubs – 4
Players – 2
Canadian Soccer League – 1
Total – 936
Gone is an old glitch that used to effectively give Ontario well over 30% of the vote. Under the old set-up, when Ontario was knocked back down to 25%, the percentage of votes they lost was not redistributed among the others. Ontario ended up holding 25% of less than 90%, which is a very different animal.
Mercifully, this has been corrected. No two provinces can now elect CSA board members on their own. (Although it’s inconceivable that, should Ontario and Quebec vote together, they couldn’t find one more vote somewhere.)
A year ago, Ontario, Quebec and Alberta controlled enough votes to pass things that required a two-thirds majority. Now, they fall a few votes short.
Clarification: This weighting system applies only to annual and special general meetings, where the CSA president and board members do not vote. In board meetings, every board member has an equal, single vote.
There’s any number of projections that can be drawn from this, but for now, let’s just focus on the extreme importance of Ontario’s upcoming decision on which CSA presidential candidate will get its 234 votes.
We already know Quebec intends to back native son and sitting CSA president Dominique Maestracci in the first round. If Ontario – which is interviewing all three candidates tomorrow evening – joins them, Maestracci would need only one vote (the Montreal Impact? CSL? Some bright spark from Yellowknife who wants to do a deal?) to be re-elected for a second four-year term.
With Ontario’s edgy, urgent commitment to change, it’s all but inconceivable this would happen. If it did, it would be one of the most shocking back-room political favours in the history of Canadian soccer.
If Ontario throws its support to either Rob Newman or Victor Montagliani, Maestracci’s re-election bid will be history. His support now seems so thin outside of Quebec – the only people I am certain are supporting him are doing so for purely political reasons – it seems inevitable he would be dropped from the second ballot.
By then, we’ll all know who Ontario’s supporting. I’m told by OSA president Ron Smale himself that Ontario will actually announce its preference at the close of its AGM this weekend. Whether that still holds if Smale is not re-elected is an open guess.
Then, all eyes would switch back to Quebec. QSF president Martial Prud’homme has expressed an admiration for Newman, but his board is still strongly aligned with former Quebec president Dino Madonis, who is known to prefer Montagliani.
If Quebec and Ontario agree in the second round, there’s your president. If they don’t, it will be the votes of all the other provinces and territories that carry the day.
At this point, I have no unduly alarming backroom shenanigans to report. There are rumours, but every one of them I’ve investigated so far has yielded only smoke, and no actual fire.
All eyes now on the OSA AGM, coming up this weekend.
After that, there will be plenty to report.
Onward!