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From the Chairman’s Notes
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The Rev. Canon Derwyn Shea
Chairman
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Our membership continues to grow and our programs are beginning to take shape. Our 2006 Annual General
Meeting was well attended though not with the same numbers as the previous year. To encourage and
facilitate greater participation, the executive has decided to make a few changes for our 2007 AGM.
Please read the copy in this newsletter that details the schedule. The meeting will start later but
will go forward into dinner in the renovated Assembly Dining Room. This year, the Lieutenant Governor
will be hosting our annual event — details to follow. We have arranged for a stimulating program
and we believe our after dinner speaker, Ali Velshi of CNN, will spark considerable interest and
conversation. Cost per person for dinner has been kept very modest in the hope members will be
accompanied by spouse or a guest. They will also be welcomed at the Vice-Regal reception providing we
have advanced notice of their attendance.
As you glance through these pages you will note activity in a number of areas. Our
networking with sister associations has been productive as well as aggressive. I had the honour of
joining the AGM of the U.S. Association of Former Members of Congress in Washington while our Secretary,
John Parker, represented us in Ottawa at the AGM of the Canadian Association of Former Parliamentarians.
Gilles Morin represented our Association at the AGM of the Quebec Association of Former Parliamentarians
in Quebec City where he continued our Liaison Committee activities which we hope will lead to a joint
activity later this year in Kingston, Ontario.
In late summer I was pleased to meet with the executive of the former members association of the Irish
Parliament in Dublin, with the new chair of the European Parliament Former Members Association and to
make contact with the Association of Former Members of European States. We are hopeful that as our
contacts with sister associations mature, our own program offerings will be enriched. Given the agenda
of our executive, I believe we are just beginning to get a positive glimmer of that possibility. Our
education program that aims to develop a curriculum outline for elementary /secondary schools has
completed the formative stages. Funding for step two is now needed to proceed and we hope the Speaker
can be helpful in this regard. Liaison with our Quebec counterparts is being steered by Vice-Chair
Gilles Morin. We hope by our AGM he, and Director John Hastings, will be able to report details of our
first joint venture.
Our European trip has not developed as quickly as we could have wished simply because of limited
resources amongst our volunteers. Our lead, Murad Velshi, and his wife have put together a first-rate
tour detailed elsewhere in this newsletter. If you have any interest in joining us please get your name
registered as quickly as possible. Members may register guests as well, but we will need names soon since
security is one obvious requirement of the trip. However, there is no question that what is being
proposed will be exciting and informative. Numbers of participants are limited so register interest as
soon as possible.Study for the first Premiers’ Dinner is still on-going but we hope to have details
available by the time we meet for the AGM. With regret, we note the retirement of two friends of
OAFP; Claude DesRosiers retired as Clerk of the Assembly and Marilyn Abraham as Director of Human
Resources. Both were most helpful as we worked to bring our Association into being and to each we extend
best wishes. I wish to express my appreciation to the Speaker and all Assembly staff for their many
courtesies and to Christian Pitchard, our director of members’ services, for his diligence in
maintaining the office on a consistent part-time basis. We wish we could afford a full time office staff
but funds are still insufficient. I also wish to express appreciation to all members of your executive.
In particular, I wish to congratulate our Secretary, John Parker, on his election to Toronto City Council
and Director John Hastings for his election to the Toronto District School Board. With the intervening
campaign, our members will appreciate the challenge I experienced trying to raise quorum. But the
elections are behind us and we are filled with energy as we face this new year. To all members, I wish
each of you happiness, success and good health this year and I look forward to greeting you at our
forthcoming AGM in June.
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