[Alsfastball] Template letter to local politican re Canada Games

[Al Doran]

Dear Honorable Member:
As a constituent in your riding I would like to request your
assistance regarding a matter that is very important to me. 
I am a strong supporter of the sport of Softball.  As you know,
sport is extremely important to the health and well-being of
Canadians.  Softball is a sport played by over 300,000 people
in Canada.  It helps to raise activity levels, build self-esteem
and teach life lessons.  Softball Canada, the National Sport
Organization, recently went through the sport selection process
for the 2009 Canada Summer Games.  As you know, the Canada Summer
Games is a national multi-sport competition for Canadian youth.
 This event is a key step in the development of softball athletes
at the high performance level.
Sports are selected to a particular Canada Games program approximately
five years in advance of the Games.  The Canada Games Council
begins the sport selection process by circulating a draft of
the process to all stakeholders (Federal and Provincial/Territorial
Governments and National Sport Organizations) and feedback is
requested.  This was done in September 2003.  After the consultation
period, the Canada Games Council then publishes and sends a detailed
sport selection process to National Sport Organizations (NSOs)
like Softball Canada and calls for applications.  This was done
in August 2004.  This is a very extensive application that involves
points awarded for rankings by the Federal Government (Sport
Canada), rankings by the Provincial/Territorial Governments,
rankings of the NSO’s Coaching Programs, number of members and
international competitions the sport competes in.
In September of 2004, Softball Canada applied to have Softball
included in the 2009 Canada Summer Games.  After all the applications
were reviewed, it was determined that Women’s Softball was in
the 2009 Games but Men’s Softball was not.  The basis for the
exclusion of Men’s Softball was the awarding of zero “0” points
out of a possible 32.5 points from the Federal Government (Sport
Canada).  After reviewing the results of the selection process,
Softball Canada felt that an error was made in how the criteria
for selection were applied.  An appeal was sent to the Canada
Games Council on November 18, 2004.  It was decided the appeal
had merit and was then forwarded to an independent arbitrator
for review.  After gathering all the necessary information, the
arbitrator ruled in favour of Softball Canada.  The arbitrator
gave the Canada Games Council three (3) options to resolve the
matter. These were:
1)	Apply the criteria as they were correctly interpreted by Softball
Canada (this would have put Men’s softball in the Games).
2)	Allow the sports for the 2005 Games on the 2009 program (this
would have put Men’s softball in the Games).
3)	Throw the whole process out and re-write the criteria, allowing
the Canada Games Council the possibility of now writing the criteria
to match how they originally, incorrectly, interpreted them.
With all the scoring effectively known, the likelihood was that
the same result as the previously voided process would then be
replicated.
This is the point in time where I have strong misgivings about
the actions of the Canada Games Council.  Instead of realizing
that they made an error and accepting they were in the wrong,
they chose the option where they “trashed” the entire sport selection
process and decided to re-write the rules.  A new sport selection
process was then quickly created and circulated by the Canada
Games Council in January 2005.  I can think of no other situation
where an organization would be allowed to re-write the rules
after they were published and a fair competition had been held.
 It is normal practice to accept the correction and then re-write
the policies, if that is required, for the next time around.
 This would have been for the 2013 Canada Summer Games not the
2009 Games.
The second situation that concerns me is the ranking given to
Men’s Softball by the Federal Government (Sport Canada).  The
score of zero “0” was given because Sport Canada does not recognize
the results from the very successful Softball Canada Men’s National
teams (7 straight gold medals at the Pan American Games and recently
a silver medal at the 2004 World Championship).  My understanding
of Sport Canada’s policy is that Men’s Softball is disadvantaged
because Women’s Softball is in the Olympics (Sport Canada only
recognizes the Olympic version of a sport).  If it were the other
way around, however, and Men’s Softball was in the Olympics,
the Women’s National Team results would be recognized and awarded
points due to Sport Canada’s gender equity policy.  No other
sport is in this unique position of only having the Women’s program
in the Olympics. This should not serve to punish the male side
of the game.  Other non-Olympic sports are better off when neither
the Men’s nor Women’s programs are in the Olympics. In that case
both their teams’ results in World Championships are recognized
by Sport Canada and they are each awarded points.  Again, how
is that fair or equitable for Men’s Softball?
So I am asking for your support.  I am requesting that you bring
these two issues to the attention of Minister for Sport, Mr.
Stephen Owen, so that a proper resolution, in the interest of
fairness, can be reached.
If you should have any questions regarding this situation, please
contact Mr. Hugh Mitchener, CEO of Softball Canada (613-523-3386,
ext. 3106 or hmitchener at softball.ca).
Sincerely,


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