NCR Executive Board Election Reform - Required!

Call For Action to all NCR members

Unlike national PIPSC elections and elections for many PIPSC groups, which are conducted electronically to allow all members to vote, NCR Executive elections still follow an in-person process, where only 200–300 delegates—mostly from the existing executive network (less than 1% of NCR membership)—who attend the NCR Council can vote. This is unacceptable, considering that NCR represents over 40,000 members (more than half of the national PIPSC membership), most of whom will never be able to participate in the election of their NCR Executives and whose voices will never be heard by those who make decisions on behalf of all members.”  — Dmitry Gorodnichy, from Open Letter to the PIPSC President.

UPDATE: 2025-03-05

"NCR Electoral Reform" Resolution submitted to NCR Council. Read all submitted resolutions here.

UPDATE: 2025-02-12

Attention PIPSC members,

You should have received an email from PIPSC with the invitation to the NCR Regional Council – April 2025. (If you did not receive it, please contact PIPSC immediately at 613-228-6310 / 1-800-267-0446 to make sure you receive it). The deadline to submit your interest is Friday February 28, 2025.

As your colleague who was elected to the NCR Executive at the last year’s Council, I strongly encourage you to do so,  even if you think that you cannot attend this meeting in person. You should be given the opportunity to attend and vote remotely. There will be two very important votings happening there:  one to elect new NCR executives, and the other on the resolution (NCR Electoral Reform) aimed to change how NCR executive are elected.

Most likely though you will not be selected as a delegate for the NCR Council anyway (because there are just very few spots available there for members who are not part of the existing NCR executive network). This very fact however will add further pressure to conduct the much needed NCR Electoral reform!

With your help, we can bring the improvements to our union! Otherwise, we can only blame ourselves.
Do your part - submit your interest to attend the NCR Council! Read my newsletter to learn more.

UPDATE: 2025-01-13

Following the majority of NCR Executives voting against the NCR Electoral Reform,  I can no longer work on this resolution in my previous capacity of the NCR Bylaws Committee Chair, but have to do it now in the capacity of a regular  member. See Motion Defeated and Read my newsletter to learn more about this development.

NCR Electoral Reform - Resolution for 2025 NCR Council

Authored by the NCR By-Laws Committee (Chair: Dmitry Gorodnichy. Members: LPD, HZ)

Developed: 10 OCT 2024. Last updated:  25 JAN 2025

Whereas:


Additional details for discussion:



Be It Resolved That:


ATTACHMENT: "Resolution for the NCR Council - NCR Electoral Reform” (gdoc)

Key References:

Recommended changes in NCR By-Laws

BY-LAW 6 NATIONAL CAPITAL REGIONAL COUNCIL

6.1 Purpose

The National Capital Regional Council shall be the supreme governing body of the National Capital Region. The functions of the National Capital Regional Council shall be:

CHANGE

6.9 Voting  All registered delegates present at the NCR Council are eligible to vote. Voting for positions on the Executive shall be by secret ballot in accordance with By-Law 11. Otherwise, voting shall normally be by a show of hands. Each member shall have one (1) vote.  Decisions shall be by a simple majority vote.

TO

6.9 Voting  All registered delegates present at the NCR Council are eligible to vote. (DELETE all information related to Executive selection from BY-LAW 6 section, keep it only in BY-LAW 11 section)

ADD: 

6.9 Executive Election results Election results will be made announced, including the number of votes received by each candidate.

ADD 

INSERT NEW SECTION BEFORE 11. (WHAT USED TO BE SECTION 11 WILL BE SECTION 12 )

NEW: BY-LAW 11 Election Procedure

XX.1 The Elections Committee shall serve as Returning Officers and shall establish procedures for the efficient conduct of an election, the counting and tabulating of ballots and all matters directly related thereto not otherwise specified in these By-Laws. 

XX.2 Ballots must be distributed at least three (3) weeks prior to the date set as the deadline for the return of ballots. 

XX.3 Effective 2025, all members in NCR may vote for the members of the NCR Executive Board

XX.4 Ballots must be received at the National Office of the Institute by the date and time specified by the Elections Committee.

XX.5 The candidate receiving the highest number of votes for a position shall be declared elected. 

XX.6 The Elections Committee shall ensure the membership is informed of the results of the election as soon as possible. 

XX.7 Successful candidates will take Office on May 1 of the year of the election. 

Motion Defeated (5 to 3)

On January 13,  2025 during its first NCR Executive Board meeting with newly elected NCR directors, Dmitry moved the motion prepared by the NCR By-Laws and Policies Committee (BLPC), of which he was Chair, to discuss the NCR Electoral Reform at the upcoming in April NCR Council (See all motions moved by Dmitry during this meeting here).  

Despite  very low attendance at this meeting  -- only 8 out of 13  executives were able to attend it. Of these  were two were former directors whose mandate has officially ended in December 2024 but who were "asked" (Motion carried at their last executive meeting in December 2024) to stay past their term until NCR Council in April, and  only  one of the new four directors --  forum was called, and Dmitry's motion was defeated: 5 to 3.

Of those 8 executives who attended the meeting, only two others, beside Dmitry,  supported the motion:  the newly elected director, and the Chief Steward. The remaining five board members voted against the motion. By doing so, they effectively reinforced the apparent or perceived conflict of interest highlighted in the rationale for why NCR electoral reform is urgently needed, as they personally have benefited from the current electoral process. 

None of the objections stated against the Electoral Reform -- such as "prohibitive cost", "only groups are allowed to do electronically because of their  geographically spread" , "it is against the NCR by-laws", "this will disenfranchise some members" (without stating which exactly members will the reform disenfranchise)  -- withstand the scrutiny as compelling grounds to block this much-needed improvement for the transparency and operation of the Union in the National Capital Region. 

Furthermore, No interest to further discuss any of the issues raised by the  BLPC-developed Electoral Reform proposal -- neither at the time when these issues were first presented to the executives in September 2024, nor before or after the motion was brought forward in January 2025 - was shown by anyone among the NCR executives. There was not a single email or off-the-room conversation initiated to discuss the motion, despite by multiple attempts to do so. - In stark contrast to many other topics (such as social activities or NCR jackets etc) that have seen lengthy online and off-line discussions.

Timeline of Electoral Reform Efforts

April 2024:

May 2024:

June 2024:

July 2024:

August 2024:

September 2024:

October 2024:

November 2024:

December 2024:

January 2025:

Scenario 1: NCR Board votes in favour 

Scenario 2 (Current): NCR Board votes against 

March 5, 2025:

April 4, 2025:

Scenario A: Resolution Approved

Scenario B: Resolution Rejected