REPORT TO THE CIA EXECUTIVE ON THE
23 FEBRUARY, 2011 CDA COUNCIL MEETING
1.The CDA Council met at the RCAF Officers’ Mess in Ottawa on 19 Nov 11 and the CIA was represented by:
- Col (Ret’d) Craig McQuitty, CIA President
- LCol (Ret’d) Bill Kedziora, Vice-President Ontario
ITEM / SUBJECT
I / Chairman’s Opening Remarks
LGen Evraire welcomed everyone.
II / Approval of Minutes of Previous Meeting
Approved
III / Business Arising from Previous Minutes
There was no business arising.
IV / Treasurer’s Report
The financial reports for both the CDA and CDA Institute were presented and discussed briefly. IT was noted that this is the last year for the 100K/yr Grant from DND. Efforts to have the grant extended were unsuccessful.
V / Approval of Meeting Expenses
Approved.
VI /
Chairman’s Report
LGen (Ret’d) Evraire described the CDA Outreach Program in some detail and noted that it continues to be successful. It is through this program that the CDA provides information to key members of the government, opposition parties and the public service through meetings, briefings and media releases. (This year tables showing the number of times that CDA/CDA Institute were represented on radio/Television, had Op Ed articles printed, and were referred to by journalists/analysts/debaters was provided to Council members). Since the Spring Council meeting, the CDA participated in 11 policy and advocacy events by giving speeches, providing lectures and attending media events.The CDA position paper on support to veterans, and the response from the Minister of Veterans Affairs was discussed. CDA will continue to follow-up.
The CDA position paper on Reserve Funding was noted with follow-up to be provided by the VCDS later in the meeting.
He mentioned that Rosie Dimano of the Toronto Star was the recipient of the Ross Munro Media Award. There were only 5 nominations for the Ross Munro Media Award this year but the quality of the nominations remains high. (NOTE: In a sidebar discussion of the award with the CDA Vice Chair Public Affairs members of the CIA delegation suggested that, like the Vimy Award, those organizations that submitted high quality nominations that were not successful, be encouraged to re-submit the following year with an updated and re-validated package. This suggestion was positively received)
LGen Evraire talked about the impending termination of the DND grant and noted that alternatives for funding the CDA were being examined. He did not express high levels of concern for future financial stability.
He concluded by stating clearly that the CDA Executive will continue to work IAW the priorities in the outreach program.
VII /
CDA Institute President’s Report
Dr. Cowan began by expressing his thanks to the Executive Director and his team for having organized another excellent Vimy Dinner event. He noted that the room is at capacity (Approx 700 attendees). 13 premier sponsors and 5 co-sponsors financially supported the event, a 50% increase over past years. He also thanked those associations that purchased either full or partial tables. (Note: This year, full tables were 10 people vice the 8 that it has been in the past.)Next year the Dinner will be held 1 week later (23 November 2012) in order to not conflict with the Halifax Security Conference. This led to a discussion on the need to coordinate with Canada Company to deconflict the Vimy Dinner from potential Canada Company fundraising dinners across the country.
Dr Cowan described the 2011 National Graduate Students’ Symposium at RMC as having been very successful. He noted that there were 69 abstracts submitted, from which 36 papers were selected for presentation. There were more doctoral papers submitted this year than in the past and the quality of the papers were comparable with the best of academic symposia.
The Ottawa Conference on Defence and Security will be held at the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa on 23 and 24 February 2012. (Note: the CIA will need to organize its delegation before the end of January 2012)
On Track continues to improve and is gaining in influence. It is mostly viewed on line, although hard copies are available in limited numbers.
The 5th Vimy Paper is currently under development and it will address Canada’s Strategic Future. It is anticipated that it will be ready for the Ottawa Conference on Defence and Security in February.
The CDA Institute has had a significant turnover in its membership.
There have been 12 Roundtables hosted by the Institute since March. This is over double the anticipated goal of hosting a roundtable per month. They continue to be well attended and are becoming highly respected fora)
Dr Cowan discussed the future by noting that for $150K/year that the Institute could double its output. He noted that the work is done free of charge but they have to pay staff to coordinate it. To get more money, the CDA Institute is undertaking a $1.5M Capital Campaign with the goal of spending 1/3 of the take in the first 5 years. For the campaign, they are working internally to raise money before they go public and so far have raised approximately $300K from the Board members alone. Should the campaign be successful, the Institute will be able to financially support the CDA by making up a portion of the lost DND funding.
VIII / Public Affairs
Col (Ret’d) Keple started by asking associations to consider nominations for the Ross Munro Media Award in the future.
He presented a Summary of the CDA Outreach Program and moved that the Council adopt it. After a discussion on the governance of the CDA Institute, it was adopted as amended. A copy of the summary can be found at the following link:
IX /
DND Briefing
VAdm Donaldson, the VCDS, addressed the Council. He focused his presentation on the issue of Reserve Funding in response to the ongoing CDA interest in this topic and as a follow-up to the CDA position paper on the subject.The Primary Reserve Employment Capacity Study (PRECS) that he had commissioned in late 2010 has been completed and he is currently studying its content. He noted that the report took into account many of the issues that were addressed in the Leslie Report. Some highlights of the PRECS are:
- The reduction of Fulltime Class B Positions will be accomplished by 2014. The goal is to have a baseline of 4500 Fulltime positions across the CF. It will be done over the course of 3 years to allow people to transition from their current Class B employment and to make sure that the 4500 positions are where they need to be.
- The size of the PRes won’t shrink because the Fulltime positions will be transferred to the Part Time force.
- There is a proposed methodology to capture resource requirements, which is still under development. It is anticipated that implementing this system will contribute to the long-term financial stability of the PRes.
- There is still work underway to accurately count reservists
X / Association/Associate Member Reports
- CME Assoc – Will be celebrating 100 years in 2012 and will be holding an AGM in November to commemorate this fact. They are working on a succession plan for their leadership.
- Navy League – Continues to conduct annual Naval appreciation days on Parliament Hill as part of their outreach program. This continues be successful and raises the profile of the RCN amongst parliamentarians and those that influence defence policy. They also noted that the youth programs they sponsor – Sea Cadets (8300 co-sponsored with DND) and Navy Cadets (4300 sponsored by the Navy League alone) continue to be strong.
- Log Assoc – Will be attempting to redefine itself over the next 3 – 4 months. The Assoc is working at the local level but not at nationally. They have the support of senior log leaders in DND for the work they are undertaking.
- CIA – Report attached
- Royal Canadian Legion – The RCL is working with other Veterans advocacy groups to try and achieve a consolidated advocacy voice in support of veterans. The controversy over the closeness of the RCL to Government that was raised around Remembrance Week was discussed. The Legion is also trying to create an online virtual presence as a forum for younger serving members of the CF who don’t feel comfortable going to the local legion for information. This initiative has the support of DND.
- EMEA – An overview of their communications strategy and its level of success was provided. They continue to reach a wide audience through e-mails, the production of a semi-annual newsletter and through a modern interactive web page.
- Naval Association of Canada (Formally the Naval Officers’ Association of Canada) – Described the name change and the reason for it - ie. To make the assoc more accessible. Membership has been opened to NCMs and also to corporate members, the latter category remains somewhat controversial.
- AFAC – Described the efforts they are undertaking to comply with the new act for Incorporating Not-for-profit corporations. They continue to produce AFAC position papers advocating for new equipment, most of which don’t become CDA position papers as they are very environment-specific.
- Army Cadet League – The Army Cadet Program is strong although there remain problems that cause an annual turnover within the Program to remain at about 50%. The reasons for this were discussed. It was pointed out that the Chief of Review Services is conducting a study of the CF Cadet Program that is anticipated will provide a bottom up view of the program that will validate it and provide a series of recommendations to further strengthen and grow it.
XI / New Business
There was no new business.
XII / Other Business
There was no other business.
XIII / Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 1415 hrs.
S.C. McQuitty
Colonel (Ret’d)
President
Canadian Infantry Association
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