Minutes From The DCF AGM - September 12, 2017
Minutes From The DCF AGM - June 25, 2019
MINUTES OF THE DCF 2019 AGM
Held on June 25, 2019 at 7:00 PM ET
Minutes From The DCF AGM - September 12, 2017
Tuesday September 12th, 2017
6:00 pm ET
Location:
Ottawa & District Labour Council
280 Metcalfe St
5th Floor
Ottawa, ON K2P 1R7
Attendance:
Present: Pat Kerwin, Doug Massey, Heather Fraser, Anne Scotton, Miles Krauter, Karl Belanger
By telephone: Diane O’Reggio, Rebecca Blaikie, David McGrath, Etienne Gratton, Ali Chautur, Mohammad Akbar
10 proxies
1. Approval of Agenda
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2. Approval of Minutes
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3. President’s Report
- Kevin Wright stepped down
- 7 executive positions expiring after AGM; they will be re-offering
- Lorne Calvert, Rebecca Blaikie, Diane O’Reggio, Irene Mathyssen, Doug Massey, Oliver Kent, David McKenzie
- Projects – Mouseland Renewal Project launched successfully. CUPE/UFCW to showcase at next convention
- 3 MPs have expressed interest in scholarships in their ridings, including Daniel Blaikie
- David McGrane was chair of Academic Conference in Calgary, presented mission of DCF
Questions – Should we fundraise around Mouseland? Eg. Get $150 from members, put it into shows etc.
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4. Executive Secretary’s Report
- 75 current members, need to update how we obtain membership and manage business of DCF. Rebecca Blaikie mentioned that Manitoba leadership convention was on the weekend and would try to attract more members.
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5. Treasurer’s Report
- 2 years of financials to approve. No variances to report. Highlights:
- 2015 – Membership/donations - $6000
- $24,614 revenue
- $239 product sales
- ATU Union purchased conference center, renamed it Tommy Douglas Center; bought 100 Tommy Douglas bobbleheads
- $235,089 expenses
- $4000 net loss 2015, $42,000 loss market revenue
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- 2016 – Cash on hand - $16,464
- Market value increased to $50,000 due to website investment and Mouseland Project
- Capital Assets - $12,134
- Total Assets - $828,995
- Grants - $10,000
- Scholarships $3500
Need to revisit publishing Treasurer’s Report on website
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Need to discuss copyright issues with Mouseland. Cannot be reproduced as we have online rights only. Proctor Brothers gave us the audio, but have kept rights to the video. Also need to decide whether to “go viral” or to keep video where it is in order to get people to the DCF.
6. Nomination of Board Members
Amy Boughner, Derek de Vlieger
Karl nominates Amy Boughner
Executive Secretary moves that 8 nominations go forward. All 8 members are acclaimed.
7. Other Business – We need to discuss implementing a procedure for submissions to Board elections. Chris Markevich to create a spreadsheet and draft policy.
8. Adjournment
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DCF Board Meeting - February 27, 2020
DCF Board Meeting
Thursday, February 27th, 2020
19:00 ET
Location:
By Telephone
Attendance:
Karl Bélanger, Melissa Hunter, Mohammad Akbar, Rebecca Blaikie, Jon Weier, Derek De Vlieger, Diana Idibe, Chirs Markevich.
- Adoption of Agenda
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2. Adoption of minutes
Minutes of the July 23rd, 2019 meeting
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3. President’s report:
Hope everyone is well. Mayor of Ottawa has asked people to stay home because of the coronavirus, thankfully we can hold our meeting by phone.
Transition has been happening. Our new treasurer will give us an update.
The group “Nos Communes, Our Commons” appears to have gone dormant. We were wise to set conditions to go along with the grant approval.
Work has been done to update our registration with Industry Canada. No progress has been made on the Stokoe bequest. 4Executive
4. Secretary’s Report:
Anne Scotton is unable to join us and send her regrets.
5. Treasurer’s Report:
Transition has been happening. Priority now is on issuing tax receipts. We have to handle a few manually. We have a lot of different systems which are more or less
compatible with each other, but things seem under control. We are issuing cheques to catch up on some accounts due.
5. b) Fee structure at Scotia McLeod
Good discussions with Scotia McLeod about our assets. They remain healthy.
Their proposed new fee structure, SM would be much more nimble in the markets as there are no commission minimums on trades. Currently, the commission minimum is $175. That does limit profit taking opportunities and specific positions when considering weighting in the portfolio, which we must do as our assets are now stock-heavy.
Motion: BIRT the Board authorizes ScotiaMcLeod to move the Douglas-Coldwell Foundation wealth management account into a Partnership Plus account, which modifies the fee structure from a Per Transaction formula to an annual fee based on the DCF assets.
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5 c). Adoption of Treasurer’s report.
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6. Progress Summit
The Progress Summit will be held in Vancouver. We will have a booth. Looking for volunteers, so if anyone is attending, please let us know.
The next TDI Institute will be held in May. Theme is Our City & the Green New Deal. We have been invited to take part once again.
7. Office Space
Mohammad Akbar has raised the issue of the DCF securing a new permanent space by buying a building. The CFS building is no longer on the market. Board members express general interest in doing so sometime down the road.
8. DCF 50th Anniversary
Next year is the 50th anniversary of the DCF. It is a good opportunity to complete the reboot of the DCF and move forward with the plan adopted by AGM two years ago. We should have a year of activity of events, maybe a gala? Jon Weier volunteers to coordinate the DCF planning.
The Institute for Change Leaders (ICL)’s proposal to create a multimedia project that tells the story of progressive campaigns, driven by Olivia Chow, is moving forward, with Tim Harper on board. Another application will be forthcoming at the next board meeting. Board members expressed once again their support in principle for this proposal.
9. Next Meeting
Board members agreed to look for a suitable date in late April/early May.
10. Other business
The Institute for Change Leaders (ICL)’s proposal to create a multimedia project that tells the story of progressive campaigns, driven by Olivia Chow, is moving forward, with Tim Harper on board. We are still awaiting their next application.
We have received news from Beryl Young that Tommy's Dream, a children’s book that tells the story of how Tommy Douglas's childhood experience with his own health inspired him to work toward establishing universal health care, is now going to be published by Louis Anctil, the publisher of Midtown Press in Vancouver. Target is the spring of 2021. An update application will be forthcoming before the next meeting.
11. Adjournment
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DCF Board Meeting - July 23rd, 2019
DCF Board Meeting
Wednesday, July 23rd, 2019
6:00 ET
Location:
By Telephone
Attendance:
Karl Bélanger, Melissa Hunter, Mohammad Akbar, Rebecca Blaikie, Diane Idibe,
Jon Weier, Amy Boughner, Jay Ramasubramanyam, Debbie Owusu-Akyeeah.
Non-board member: Josh Bizjak
Adoption of Agenda
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2. Adoption of minutes
Minutes of the previous meeting are read and adopted.
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3. President’s report:
Karl mentions that there was a significant turnover of Board Members at the AGM, which is interesting and challenging.
The two committees charged by the previous AGM to review governance issues and the DCF by-laws made limited progress.
The DCF received a nice letter from a scholarship recipient and was read. The DCF needs to revisit its links with the different universities to strengthen the relationship and increase awareness.
4. Financial Report: No official report as the position is vacant, following the resignation of Emilie Taman. Karl gives a general overview of the financial situation. Our assets remain healthy. The DCF raised more money in the past year, thanks notably to a generous donation from the Flanagan Institute.
Minimal progress has been made on the transition. A full audit needs to be conducted before the end of the year.
Karl had a meeting with Scotia McLeod about our assets. They are proposing a new fee
structure, in essence moving to a fee-based structure from a per transaction cost. With the fee-based structure, our investors pledge to make himself available for board meetings and consult on the construction of a new investment policy statement. With a fee-based structure, we would be much more nimble in the markets as there are no commission minimums on trades.
Motion moved to ask the new treasurer to review, met with Scotia McLeod and report to the Board on a recommendation for the proposal.
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5. Election of officers
President: Karl Bélanger
Vice-President: Rebecca Blaikie, Derek DeVlieger
Executive Secretary: Anne Scotton in abstentia, pending her acceptance;
Mohammad Akbar as alternate.
Treasurer: Melissa Hunter
6. Staffing
Chris Markevich has moved on from his position but has been elected to the Board, which will be helpful for institutional memory. Josh Bizjak has been helping out on a volunteer basis.
Motion moved to regularize Josh Bizjak’s situation by compensating his work on a similar contract as previous assistant, to be negotiated with the President.
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7. Correspondence
