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January 10, 2001 To Reform BC Board of Directors, Constituency Secretaries and Presidents At the Reform BC annual general meeting held in Vernon on June 10th, 2000, the President of Reform BC, Chris Delaney, brought forward a resolution, which was intended to address the vote-splitting issue. Motion: "Delaney/Goodrich: The members of Reform BC authorize their Board of Directors to develop a process with The Social Credit Party of BC, the BC Conservative Party, the BC Party, as well as other interested Party, for the coming together of the memberships of these parties around a common strategy to form the government after the next election." That resolution authorized the Reform BC Board to develop a process. It did not authorize the creation of a new political party. The Board, or its delegates, had no mandate to create a new political party. Furthermore, later in August, the Social Credit, Conservative and BC Party removed themselves from the process with Reform BC, and still remain as provincial political parties, leaving only the Family Coalition Party as the one political organization with which Reform BC could discuss unity. As there was no longer a mandate, a resolution was passed by the Reform Board of Directors at its October 16, 2000 Board meeting, to effectively suspend the process development. Therefore, steps taken after October 16 by the Board or its delegates to proceed with the planning of a Unity Convention were without authorization or legal foundation. That resolution reads: Motion: "Ron Z./Mike: to hold off the unity convention dealings until after the next Provincial Election and move forward as Reform BC." At the next Reform Board meeting on November 23, 2000, President Delaney arbitrarily and incorrectly decided that the October 16 meeting was not a legal meeting and voted, along with some other members, not to adopt the minutes of that meeting. With respect, this is not a matter that the Board can determine. The October 16 meeting was duly constituted and had a quorum, thus making it a legal meeting and the matters passed at it are official resolutions of the Board. A motion by Bill Vander Zalm and Bob Zayonc to schedule an AGM for Reform BC in conjunction with the Unity Leadership Convention for February 24 & 25, 2001 was also made at this November 23 meeting and was carried. On January 8, 2001, I received conformation that the mailing did not go to Reform BC members until December 28th and 29th. I do not know who was responsible for the date it was mailed or for its contents. This notice, however, did not comply with Reform Bylaws. Article 8.2: "A written notice of the holding of any convention or annual general meeting shall be mailed to all members at least 60 days prior to the meeting." On January 9, 2001, I received my package by mail which contained one green sheet from Reform BC of my notice of the February 24, 2001 Reform AGM. All the other sheets contained information on Unity BC. There was no registration form for a Reform BC annual general meeting – there was only a registration form for Unity BC. There are only about 3,000 eligible Reform members. Who authorized a mailing to 13,134 people at a cost of approximately $6,000 to over 10,000 people who are not entitled to register or vote on Reform matters? Article 8.3: "Upon payment of the registration fee, any member who has been in good standing for not less than 60 days prior to the date of a convention or annual general meeting is entitled to be a voting Member. The mailing also did not comply with: Article 6.2: "Prior to every annual general meeting, when the official notice of the annual general meeting is mailed to all members, the mailing to every voting Member who was in good standing 60 days prior to the annual general meeting will include a ballot envelope, an identity card, a return envelope and a ballot that asks the following question: "Do you wish to have a leadership vote?..." Under these circumstances, the annual general meeting for Reform BC called for on February 24, 2001 is not in compliance with our Bylaws. Any decisions made at the Unity BC meeting that weekend will have no effect on Reform BC. As the Unity BC has now been registered with Elections BC as a political party; Article 1.1 "Membership in the Reform Party of British Columbia (the "Party") shall be open to all persons entitled under the Election Act to vote at an election of the legislature of this province, and who subscribe to and support the Purposes, Objectives and Principles of the Party, and who do not hold membership in another provincial political party." Those persons who have been noted in the Unity BC newsletter of Volume 1, Issue 1 December 2000 that was included in the AGM mail-out, listed on page 3 under The Regions and Regional Contacts as well as the interim leadership team listed on the last page are no longer members of Reform. As a result, those members who are members of Unity BC are no longer eligible to sit on Reform BC’s Board. If anyone believes that their name is listed on the Unity BC newsletter by error, and wish to remain with Reform BC, or would like any information regarding this letter please contact the Reform Party Secretary, Shirley Abraham, at 604-584-7722 or fax 604-592-2812. Reform BC Board of Directors, Constituency Secretaries and Presidents should also contact Reform members to advise them of the cancellation of the February 24th Reform AGM. I am asking Shirley Abraham to call a meeting of the remaining Board members of Reform, by telephone, as soon as possible and do the following: (1) Appoint a new Vice President, etc.; (2) Set a date for the next Reform annual general meeting; (3) Encourage the constituencies to get candidates nominated; (4) Formally notify the Unity committee/party that Reform BC is not interested in participating and will not sanction or participate in their upcoming convention; (5) Discuss further business that may come forward from the Board. Ron Gamble |