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Vol. 19, No. 4, Wednesday, December 13, 2023 www.LamontLeader.com
Members disgruntled at UCP Fort Sask-Veg constituency AGM BY JANA SEMENIUK Members of the Fort SaskatchewanVegreville UCP constituency are calling for a re-do of their annual general meeting after the scheduled meeting Dec. 7 resulted in several angry complaints around irregularities to the UCP Central Alberta Director. Email notifications went out in midNovember inviting members to the UCP AGM at the Vegreville Kinsmen Golf Course to elect a new board including a new president, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and secretary in addition to 27 new directors. As the crowd gathered for the meeting, the building’s 75-person capacity limit was quickly reached leaving more than 30 people outside standing in the cold. Confusion ensued when one of the facilitators told the line of people
UCP Central Alberta Director Al Biel received several emails complaining about the process of the Dec. 7 Fort Saskatchewan-Vegrevile UCP constituency association AGM, including voting irregularities and standards of practice. Photo: Jana Semeniuk they would not be allowed inside, due to fire capacity, and they would also not be allowed to vote. Members became angry and complained to those in charge, who then reversed course and allowed members into the building as other members
A line of at least 30 UCP members were left waiting in the cold Dec. 7 as the Vegreville Kinsmen Golf Course facility, chosen to host the Fort Saskatchewan-Vegrevile UCP constituency association AGM, was filled to capacPhoto: Jana Semeniuk ity. voted and left. Long-time member Helen Wowk said she has never seen an AGM like this one. “I've been a member for many years (and) I've been to many of these. I have never experienced anything like this in my life. This is absolutely ridiculous,” she said as she stood outside waiting. As one member left the building, he said he was not allowed to ask questions. “You can’t even ask questions. It was brought up, no questions,” he said, while another member said the meeting should be rescheduled. “If there wasn’t enough room in there to vote then this meeting should be redone,” she said. Not everyone was upset. Long-time member Jocelyn Mouyios saw the large crowd as a positive sign for the UCP. “I see it as a great sign that people are involved in democracy and they want to be a part of it,” she said. Meanwhile, inside, members were asked to provide identification while their names were crossed off a sheet of paper. Additionally, ballots were hand-
ed out to each person as they approached a table. Four ballots, one for the president, one for the CFO and one for the secretary had only one candidate name printed on them, while a long sheet held 27 candidate names for directors. When another call went out for any other director nominees, the list grew to 53 names. The newly elected president is Ruven Rajoo, new CFO is Sheryl Cymbaliuk while Renee Roberge was elected as the new secretary. Numbers of votes for each candidate, and the names of any additional candidates who were running for the top three positions were not available by press time. UCP Central Alberta Director, Al Biel, was present at the AGM and said in a later interview that he received a substantial amount of emails complaining about the Dec. 7 meeting but declined to provide a number. “There were several complaints around the Dec. 7 AGM centred around voting irregularities, standards of practice and calls to re-do the AGM. “People who have emailed their
complaints will have the opportunity to have their complaints heard by an arbitration committee, but the option to re-do the AGM will sit with the arbitration committee. We will be putting forward governance and policies to ensure this does not happen again. “This is going to be a number one priority. By doing so we will be able to build more trust and confidence in the UCP party for the members at large. We need to bring the voters together,” he said, adding the ballots were not destroyed after the meeting, rather they were brought to the party office. Biel said the organizers were caught off guard by the large number of attendees. “Typically, in the past we have had 30 or 40 members and now we’re having close to 130. We are starting to see more and more people get
Newly elected president of the Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville UCP Constituency Association Ruven Rajoo. Photo: Jana Semeniuk involved.” Biel added he is hoping the process for creating new governance around AGMs is completed within the first quarter of the new year. Several questions in an email to Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville MLA Jackie Armstrong-Homeniuk, through her assistant Varun Chandrasekar, were not responded to by press time.