Evidence of meeting #80 for Canadian Heritage in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was board.
A recording is available from Parliament.
President, Canada Soccer
I read agreements, and I read all the documents that are put before us, which is good governance. Anybody who serves on a board, volunteer.... We have to read documents.
Conservative
Martin Shields Conservative Bow River, AB
Did you read that document that you seconded on the CSB agreement?
Conservative
Martin Shields Conservative Bow River, AB
Thank you.
You referred to reaching out to people. We have a quote from Christine Sinclair. Of course, that's a name I know and recognize in soccer. She said, in fact, “Since she has been elected...she has not reached out [to me].”
President, Canada Soccer
When that comment was made, when they were in front of this Parliament, it was four days into my interim presidency, so you can imagine the scale.
I was actually told that I would have to work through the coaches in order to connect with the athletes. As is normal protocol with us, we reach out through the coaches, through the athletes and through the players. There's a busy time for them through their competitive schedule. I would not ever make demands on their time, but we did have a meeting two weeks after that, when it was possible for all of us to be together. We had quite a cordial meeting and talked about some of their challenges and some of the opportunities to grow and work together.
Conservative
Martin Shields Conservative Bow River, AB
Was Ms. Sinclair part of that meeting? Was Ms. Sinclair part of that?
President, Canada Soccer
That meeting was with my vice-president at the time, who is also a woman, Kelly Brown. We had a meeting—
Conservative
President, Canada Soccer
—with all four of the senior member teams.
I'm sorry, I didn't....
Conservative
Martin Shields Conservative Bow River, AB
Was Sinclair involved in that meeting? Have you met with her since?
President, Canada Soccer
It was Sinclair, it was Quinn, it was Janine Beckie and it was Ms. Schmidt. All four who were in front of you—
President, Canada Soccer
We worked, again, through the coaches to meet them.
Conservative
Martin Shields Conservative Bow River, AB
The person who you were running against for president has quoted that Rob came right out and said the CSB agreement “has to be ripped up and renegotiated”.
Will you rip it up and renegotiate that agreement?
President, Canada Soccer
As I mentioned earlier, that agreement is in the process of being modernized.
We have an opportunity to look at all our agreements. We are looking to modernize that to be more in line with sponsorship opportunities and to be more in line with time frames as well.
Looking at opportunities to grow our game is what we do. Every partnership that we have should always be looked at in the vein that it helps to grow our game.
Conservative
Martin Shields Conservative Bow River, AB
Thank you, I appreciate that. I'm not sure what “modernization” means.
On the voting structure, there are 85 votes, with 15 potentially coming from one source—Canada Soccer.... Are you going to change the voting structure for president?
President, Canada Soccer
As a matter of fact, we already decided in November that we will look at the entire structure of our governance when it comes to voting. We will have [Inaudible—Editor] meetings—
Conservative
Martin Shields Conservative Bow River, AB
That's not what I asked. Are you in favour of changing the voting structure?
President, Canada Soccer
I'm in favour of a structure that is fair and equitable to all the groups across, but it's up to the membership to have that dialogue, to have that conversation and to be compliant and in line—
Conservative
Martin Shields Conservative Bow River, AB
I understand that, but my question is about you. What is your opinion on that voting structure?
President, Canada Soccer
My opinion is that we will work to put in a structure that is for the benefit of all constituents across the country.
Conservative
Martin Shields Conservative Bow River, AB
That's a non-answer. Are you going to run for president another term?
President, Canada Soccer
As you know, my presidency now is a one-year term to serve out the term of Nick Bontis. At the end of the day, it will be those members who will vote if I choose to move forward in the next year.
President, Canada Soccer
It will be up to the members and how my work is, and that decision will be made at that time.