April 2012
 Print This Page |
|
 |
|
I would like to thank all the members who voted in this historic election. A record number of ballets were cast in this election where the members could vote for the first time for the four Executive positions.
We have several new Executive Members and Directors. They are Vice President Terry Humberstone, Secretary Steve Walsh and Director Paul Finch. We have four returning members, Treasurer Nick Oud, Director Dan Archibald, Director Ken King and yours truly as President.
I believe we have a strong group of very positive members on the new board that will continue to move the CRPU forward this next three years.
There are several areas we are hoping to bring more to the forefront, promotion, protection and better communication.
We will be working on getting racing pigeons on the National 4H program and get greater exposure of what racing pigeons are all about to the younger generation. We will also try and put together a promotional program that members can draw on when interested in promoting racing pigeons in their own areas.
The board can provide leadership and direction but we also need help from individual members/clubs and combines.
Protecting the right to raise and race pigeons is also a very important issue. Over the years the board has been involved in a number of by-law challenges and have been successful in each one. The latest was in the City of Hamilton where the proposed new by-law would not allow people residing in residential or commercial areas of the city to keep pigeons, thus prohibiting new fanciers from joining the hobby.
Our By-law Chairman, Steve Walsh with the help of members from the Hamilton Central and Flamboro Clubs were successful in getting that part of the proposed by-law sent back to the planning committee. After another month or so a favourable by-law for the pigeon fanciers was realised. It is a real asset for us to have a strong National Organization as cities and municipalities seem very willing to work with a professionally run National Organization.
We are also working on a better, faster and a more professional way of communicating with our members. Minutes of our meetings will on average be posted on the CU website within two weeks of the meeting date. Other updates and messages will be posted on the CU site and/or the CU discussion site. As communication should be a two way street, we are also looking forward to positive feedback and ideas from our members.
These are exciting times for the racing pigeon sport in Canada. I look forward to helping lead this incredible National Organization to new greatness.
Yours in the Sport
Oscar DeVries
President
The Canadian Racing Pigeon Union